Woven Stories: A History of Wool, Cotton, Linen and Silk - 24.09.14 - 03.12.14

10 WEEK COURSE: The history of cotton, linen, silk and wool include cheese-making and street style, the history of tartan and tweed, changing fashions in mourning, early aeronautical engineering, the wonders of African kente cloth and the relationship between the American Civil War, and the simultaneous decline of textile industries in Iran. Together these fibres present the history of textiles.

This course will include medieval silks and Renaissance velvets, knitted wool, printed cottons, linen suits and merino wool base-layers, ancient Egyptians, merchant seamen, pickpockets, royalty and laundresses. These are the stories behind the beautiful textiles displayed in the Museum.

Speakers will include Dr Susan North, Curator of Fashion 1550-1800, Dorothy Armstrong, an expert on oriental carpets, Anna Buruma, Archivist of Liberty Fabrics and Jane Deane, a textile designer who breeds silk moths.

Led by Jennifer Weardon, Honorary Research Fellow, V&A Research Department.

10 weeks, Wednesdays, 24 September – 3 December (half term: 29 October)

24 September 2014 at 10:00pm - 4 December 2014 at 12:00am

Seminar Room One, Sackler Centre, Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL

Price: £365 | £300 concessions