Dr Christine Boydell

Dr Christine Boydell is a Design Historian who specialises in the history of dress and textiles. Dr Boydell gained her PhD in 1992 for the study of the American freelance textile designer Marion Dorn. In 1996 her book The Architect of Floors: modernism, art and Marion Dorn designs was published. Christine has written widely on fashion and textile history and co-edited with Schoeser a collection of essays Disentangling Textiles' in 2003.  Horrockses Fashions'; Off-the-Peg style in the ‘40s and ‘50s was published by V&A Publishing in 2010 to coincide with an exhibition she curated at the Fashion & Textile Museum, London.  Christine is book reviews’ editor for the journal of the Pasold Research Fund Textile History.  Future projects include the curation of an exhibition on swimwear and resort wear and a book on the textile designer Pat Albeck.

Click here for a full listing of Christine Boydell's publications and outputs.

Boydell, C (2010) Horrockses Fashions: Off the Peg Style in the ‘40s and ‘50s, V&A Publications 

Schoeser, M & Boydell, C (eds) (2003) Disentangling Textiles: Techniques for the Study of Design Objects, Middlesex University Press

Boydell, C (1996) The Architect of Floors: Modernism, Art & Marion Dorn Designs, Schoeser, Essex

Boydell, C (2010) ‘Horrockses Fashions and cotton ready-to-wear in the 1940s and ‘50s’, Journal of the Decorative Arts Society, 33: 8-25

Boydell, C (2004) ‘Fashioning Identities: Gender, Class & the Self’, Journal of Contemporary History, 39 (1): 137-146 (review article)

• History of Twentieth Century Fashion
• Ready-to-wear fashion
• Art Deco textiles
• Post-war design
• Gender and design
• Post-war textile design

• Design History
• Fashion History
• Textile Design History

• PhD (CNAA) ‘Marion Dorn: A Study of the Working Methods of the Female Professional Textile Designer in the 1920s and 1930s’, University of Huddersfield, 1992
• Post Grad Diploma, History of Art and Design, Birmingham Polytechnic, 1982
• BA (Hons) History of Design (2:1), Manchester Polytechnic, 1981

• Fashion Design BA (Hons)
• Textile Design BA (Hons)
• Fashion Textiles and Accessories BA (Hons)
• Fashion and Bodywear MA

• Textile Society (executive committee member 1982-7, 1992-2000; hon sec 1993-6; co-editor of Society’s journal Text 1996-2000
• Design History Society (executive committee member 1987-90)
• Attingham Society Scholarship Committee Member (1990-4)

Boydell, C (2012) ‘Reading swimwear in the trade press: a case study of Corsetry & Underwear’, The Natural Body Research Seminar, International Centre for Sports History & Culture, De Montfort University

Boydell, C (2009) ‘Horrockses Fashions and cotton ready-to-wear 1946-1960’ Ars Textrina International Textiles Conference – Natural Fibres: A World Heritage, University of Leeds

Boydell, C (1998) ‘Branded Goods and the Post-War Fashion Industry: a case study of Horrockses Fashion Limited’, Design History Society Conference, University of Huddersfield

Boydell, C (1996) ‘Marion Dorn textile designer for the modern home’ Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, New York.

Boydell, C (1995) ‘Marion Dorn as a professional textile designer’, National Portrait Gallery, London

• Part-time PhD – Emma Ronald (first supervisor) ‘Patterns of Identity: block printed and resist-dyed textiles of rural Rhajistan’
• Part-time PhD – Deborah Jewison (second supervisor) ‘Furniture design education in England from 1926 onwards’ (second supervisor)
• Part-time PhD – Joanne Horton (second supervisor) ‘An investigation into the potential of electro-forming for the purpose of embroidery and embellishment in the context of wearable textiles’ 
• Part-tine PhD – Claire Lerpiniere (second supervisor) ‘The Textile Archive: curating personal histories and family narratives’

‘The Natural Body: Movement, Dress and Physical Culture’, DMU RIF. Sept 2011-Aug 2012. Team member. Jean Williams, Tess Buckland

Textile Society’s journal Text 1996-2000 co-editor

Horrockses Fashion: Off-the-Peg Style in the 40s and 50s, V&A Publishing, 2010

Reviews:

Eck, C in Textile History (forthcoming)

Turney, J in Journal of Design History, (2012) 25 (1): 109-111. 

Horrockses Fashion: Off-the-Peg Style in the 40s and 50s exhibition at Fashion & Textile Museum, London July-Oct 2010

A short film to accompany the show was produced which was shown at FTM and posted on Youtube (3,000 hits).

Features on Horrockses book/exhibition:

Stella (Supplement to the Sunday Telegraph (18 June 2010), 

V&A Magazine (Summer 2010), 

Lancashire Evening Post (28/6/10)

Interviewed with Boydell onWoman’s Hour (BBC) on 28 April 2010 (and again on Weekend Woman’s Hour 1.5.10).