The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes: Secrets from a Victorian Woman’s Wardrobe

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How serendipitous that a diary dating from 1838 and containing hundreds of snippets of fabric should fall into fashion historian Kate Strasdin's capable hands.

Strasdin's painstaking detective work has uncovered many of the fascinating insights behind the fabric swatches contained in this unusual collection Sunday Times The hidden fabric of a Victorian woman's life - from family and friends to industry and Empire - told through her unique textile scrapbook. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose doctoral work focused on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. Listen to more episodes on: In May 1848 merchant’s wife Anne Sykes rustled on to the dancefloor in a dress made of pink and purple silk taffeta. Her husband, Adam, was quite possibly in the cream velvet pile waistcoat that he had got for his birthday. Or perhaps he had opted for the bright silk tartan one. Either way, the young couple must have shimmered as they waltzed, giving the lie to the idea that the early Victorians mostly preferred to look as if they were off to a funeral.An acquaintance of the author gave her a book that had been found in a thrift shop, knowing her interest in textile and fashion history. A homemade journal of types, but filled with fabric swatches from the Victorian Era in England, rather than written entries. The fabrics have caption like "Mary's dress for Helen's wedding" and a date, but not much else.

Snippets of fabric, snippets of biographical detail, snippets of historical evidence - this is a book entirely made up of snippets and I found it irresistible Ysenda Maxtone Graham, The Times This was a book I was excited to read since I first heard about it through social media. Author and fashion historian Kate Strasdin was given an album, a 'dress diary' in 2016. The album consisted of swatches of fabrics from the 1830s through about the 1870s and, with the exception of brief captions identifying the fabric in a way only the album's creator would have recognized, there was no writing. Strasdin spent years researching the people named in the captions and the stories she could connect to them and their fabrics. The result is the fascinating book The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes: Secrets from a Victorian Woman's Wardrobe (called The Dress Diary: Secrets from a Victorian Woman's Wardrobe in the US).This was a fascinating story, or groups of stories, giving insights into time, place, and lives of mostly the industrialist class as it develops in England. What the author was able to learn about Anne, her family, and their social milieu was fascinating. The book is written in a very readable way, though it is a research project report. Finally, into the book, the author discovers that it belonged to Anne Sykes, which allows her to not only trace her life through the fabrics, but some of the others mentioned throughout. Oh, how I enjoyed this book! Not only is it a great read, but it's quite informative and very well-written, too. This week, the Costume Society hosted an exclusive book launch event for members, in which Kate Strasdin spoke about 'The Dress Diary of Anne Sykes'. Become a membertogain access to future events. Despite, as the title makes evident, the book focusing on one Victorian character – Mrs Anne Sykes, in a sense while reading you follow the stories of two main women; Anne Sykesherself, and the story of Kate Strasdin’s research process as she uncovers Anne’s story. Both of these stories converge around one key item, Anne’s diary, in which swatches of textiles are documented, starting after her marriage in her early 20s. Using these textiles and captions, Strasdin follows Anne, tracing her movements and her acquaintances, with the help of historical records and knowledge of the lives of women of Anne’s standing. Fantastically; what starts as a collection of fragments of textiles – not even whole garments – becomes a full life.