2022 Founder’s Lecture

Forensic Fashion: Investigating Old Clothes from the Rag Trade to the Lab

Join the BSM as we welcome renowned fashion historian, curator, and forensic garment analyst Amber Butchart as our 2022 Founder’s lecturer who will discuss her work in forensic garment analysis. In this illustrated talk, she considers the power of old clothes in storytelling across literature and myth, the global problems inherent in our discarded old clothing, and the potential of fashion as a tool for forensic science.

A Q+A and reception will follow the conversation. Guests will also have the opportunity to view the BSM galleries, including our upcoming exhibition OBSESSED: How Shoes Became Objects of Desire that opens to the public on October 19, 2022.

Content Disclaimer: Please note that this talk will deal with themes of death across a broad range of areas and forensic evidence.

Tuesday, November 8, 2022
Doors open at 6:30pm
Presentation begins at 7:00pm
Reception from 8:00pm to 10:00pm

$25 per person for general admission | $10 for Friends of the BSM and students (with valid Friends or student ID)
Special deal: 2 for $40 for general admission
Tickets includes a reception following the conversation | Limited seating

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER:

Amber Butchart is a curator, writer and broadcaster who specializes in the cultural and political history of textiles and dress. She is a former Research Fellow at the University of the Arts London, and is a regular public lecturer across the UK’s leading arts institutions. 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. Amber is an external adviser for the National Crime Agency as a Forensic Garment Analyst, working on cases that require investigation of clothing and textiles. She has published five books on the history and culture of clothes, including The Fashion of Film, Nautical Chic, and a history of British fashion illustration for the British Library. She is currently curating an exhibition for the Fashion and Textile Museum in Bermondsey, to open in 2023.