Join the fabulous curator & historian of textiles, dress and design Amber Butchart for a fascinating exploration of Regency textiles and dress. Starting with the patchwork coverlet made by the Austen women, on display at Jane Austen’s House, Amber will take us on a globe-trotting virtual tour around the world as we discover how and where the fabrics that clothed Regency bodies and houses were produced, and how they were used.

Fresh from curating the upcoming exhibition Splash! A Century of Swimming & Style at the Design Museum in London, Amber will also shed some light on what Jane Austen and her characters would have worn to go sea bathing!

**This event is part of a Regency Dress double-bill – don’t forget to also join us for our second virtual talk: Useful things or contemptible articles?: Talk of flannel waistcoats on Saturday 10 May.**

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Amber Butchart is a curator, writer and broadcaster who specialises in the cultural and political history of textiles, dress and design. She researches and presents documentaries for television and radio, including the six-part series A Stitch in Time for BBC Four that fused biography, art and the history of fashion to explore the lives of historical figures through the clothes they wore, and she is the history consultant and regular on-screen historian for BBC One’s Great British Sewing Bee. She is a regular public lecturer across the UK’s leading arts institutions, and is an external adviser for the National Crime Agency as a Forensic Garment Analyst, working on cases that require investigation of clothing and textiles. Her books include The Fashion of Film, Nautical Chic, and Fashion Illustration in Britain: Society and the Seasons. She is currently a CHASE-funded PhD researcher in curating political textiles, and her latest exhibition, ‘Splash! A Century of Swimming and Style’ is running at the Design Museum in London from 28th March.

Details:
Date: Thursday 8 May 2025
Time: 8pm – 9pm
Location: This event will take place online. Join us from the comfort of your own home!
Tickets: £7 for this talk or £12 for both our Regency Dress talks! (please book ‘Regency Dress double bill’ to take advantage of the ticket offer)

 This event will take place on Zoom. Please provide a valid email address, as you will be emailed a link to join the tour in the run up to the event. 

 If you are joining as a group or household, please buy one ticket for each person attending.  All proceeds go towards the upkeep of the Museum. 

🎥 This event will be recorded so you can watch again later. All ticket-holders will be emailed a link to the recording after the event. The recording will be accessible for one month.

Timings are given in UK time (British Summertime) – please do check what the event time is in your territory, to ensure you log in at the right time. 

📖 This event is part of our Spring Fling: Sense and Sensibility Festival, running from 1 – 11 May 2025

Please note that booking for this event will close at 5.00pm (BST) on Wednesday 7 May 2025. This is to ensure that all attendees receive their link in good time.