In this richly illustrated talk, Rachel will explore the clothing and dress of the rural poor in nineteenth-century England, drawing on a range of sources to illuminate a subject often overlooked in historical study. She will weave together insights from the literary works of Thomas Hardy with material evidence from the clothing, textile, and photographic collections held at the Dorset Museum and Art Gallery and The Museum of English Rural Life, Reading.

Through this interdisciplinary approach, Rachel will demonstrate how we can reconstruct a more vivid and nuanced picture of everyday dress, examining not only the practical and aesthetic choices of rural communities but also the broader economic and environmental contexts in which fabrics and garments were produced and worn. Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of the intertwined relationships between fashion, social class, and the natural world in Victorian England, shedding light on the hidden economies and textures of life in the countryside.

About the speaker

Rachel Worth is Professor Emerita at the Arts University Bournemouth, where she was Course Leader for the undergraduate degree in 'Fashion Studies' and, latterly, Head of Research and Professor of Dress History.

She studied history at Newnham College, University of Cambridge; obtained a PGCE in History / English Literature at University of Bristol and then an MA and PhD in History of Dress at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London. Alongside a career in teaching and fashion education, she has researched widely the history of non-elite clothing, in particular, issues around democratisation and the relationship between clothing and class. She is the author of Dress and Textiles (Dovecote Press, 2002); Fashion for the People: A History of Clothing at Marks & Spencer (Berg, 2007); Clothing and Landscape in Victorian England: Working-Class Dress and Rural Life (I. B. Tauris, 2018), Fashion and Class (Bloomsbury, 2020) and, most recently, The Hidden Life of Clothing: Historical Perspectives on Fashion and Sustainability (Bloomsbury, 2023).

Rachel sews and is a passionate advocate of 'slow fashion' and sustainable practices in clothing design and making.