Dr Kate Strasdin

Senior Lecturer

I joined Falmouth University in 2009 as an associate lecturer teaching histories and theories to students on BA(Hons) Fashion Design and BA(Hons) Performance Sportswear Design. With the addition of a further two courses - BA(Hons) Fashion Photography and BA(Hons) Fashion Marketing - I now help to deliver the HATs programme across the four courses. I am also one of two dissertation supervisors.

Following the completion of my PhD in 2013, my research was published as a book by Bloomsbury Academic in October 2017, titled Inside the Royal Wardrobe: A Dress History of Queen Alexandra. I have had two peer reviewed journal articles published, I have attended a number of national and international conferences and chaired two conference panels. I was the historical consultant for the exhibition Royal Women at the Fashion Museum, Bath in 2018 named as one of Vogue's top 12 exhibitions of the year. In 2011 I was awarded the annual Gervers Fellowship given by the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, allowing me to work with their collections. I was the recipient of the 2010 Keith Ponting Bursary to further research at the Fashion Museum in Bath and won a Design History Society Award towards the cost of travel and study. I am honorary deputy curator at the Totnes Fashion and Textile Museum in Devon.

Email	kate.strasdin@falmouth.ac.uk
Telephone	07799 260167 (ext 5689)

Qualifications

Year	Qualification	Awarding body
1997	BA (Hons) History	University of Wales, Cardiff
2000	MA History of Textiles and Dress	Winchester School of Art
2013	PhD	Southampton University

Honours and awards

Year	Description
2011	The Gervers Fellowship, an annual award given to further study in Canada

Membership of external committees

The Costume Society, Dress and Textile Specialists (DATs), The Court Studies Society

Research Interests

Research interests and expertise

My PhD was a study of the surviving garments of Queen Alexandra, now scattered around the world in different museums. It was an object based project taking garments as the central point of departure and using material culture to inform other narratives. My research interests arising from this are 19th and early 20th century female dress, haute couture, couture embroidery and dress practices.

Research topics

Royal dress
court studies
19th century dress
haute couture
Embroidery

Research Outputs

Publications and research outputs

Article

Strasdin, Kate (2019) Rediscovering Queen Alexandra’s Wardrobe: The Challenges and Rewards of Object-Based Research. The Court Historian, 24 (2). pp. 181-196. ISSN 1462-9712 Item availability may be restricted.

Book Section

Strasdin, Kate (2016) 'Gold and Silver by Night' Queen Alexandra - A Life in Colour. In: Colours in Fashion. Bloomsbury Academic, London. ISBN 9781474273695

Conference or Workshop Item

Strasdin, Kate (2015) Foundations of Fashion - The History of Underwear. In: NADFAS Workshop, Various around the UK. (Unpublished) Item not available from this repository.

Strasdin, Kate (2014) ‘A Working Royal Wardrobe – The Public Persona of Queen Alexandra’. In: Tailored Trades Network Conference, September 2014, Bishopsgate Institute.

Strasdin, Kate (2012) ‘Think of me as I was now I am breaking up’ Queen Alexandra and the Art of Royal Camouflage 1863-1925. In: Royal Bodies Conference, April 2012, Royal Holloway.

Book

Strasdin, Kate (2017) Inside the Royal Wardrobe - A Dress History of Queen Alexandra. Dress and Fashion Research . Bloomsbury Academic, London. ISBN 978-1350102347

Website Content

Strasdin, Kate (2014) It's All in the Detail - Couture's Best Kept Secret. [Website Content]

Conference

Strasdin, Kate (2016) Fashion and Democracy. [Conference]

Events

Year	Description
2010	CHORD Conference paper - 'Royal Retail - Queen Alexandra and her Acquisition of Dress'
2011	Keynote speaker - Interdisciplinary Approaches to Fashion at Ryerson University, Toronto
2011	Annual Gervers Lecture - Kate Strasdin Gervers Fellow - lecture on the dress of Queen Alexandra in the collections of the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto
2012	Royal Bodies Conference paper at Royal Holloway - 'Think of me as I was now I am breaking up - Queen Alexandra and the Art of Royal Camouflage'
2012	The Making of a Modern Monarchy conference paper at Kensington Palace - 'Clothes Maketh the Monarchy - power dressing in the life of Alexandra, Princess of Wales
2014	Tailored Trades Network Conference Paper at the Bishopsgate Institute, London - 'A Working Royal Wardrobe: The Public Persona of Queen Alexandra
2014	The Costume Colloquium IV - Colors in Fashion paper in Florence - 'Gold and Silver by Night - Queen Alexandra and the Colours of Power'
2015	Disseminating Dress conference, University of York, working title 'Reporting Royal Dress - Queen Alexandra and the Court Circular'
2014	A panel of papers accepted for the 84th Anglo-American Conference at the Institute of Historical Research, working title ‘Provenance Guaranteed’ – Between Bath and Los Angeles, the Transatlantic Dissemination of Queen Alexandra’s Wardrobe.
2018	Historical consultant for the exhibition Royal Women at the Fashion Museum in Bath, named as one of Vogue's top 12 international exhibitions of 2018

Research Students

Current research students

Paul Reynolds is a practice based PhD student looking at devoré lace as a means of expressing the limits and existence of holes. Dr Simon Clarke is director of studies and I am co-supervisor, advising on the contextual element of the research.

Research degrees examined

I examined one of Professor Lou Taylor's PhD students at the University of Brighton in 2016.

Number of research degree examinations

Teaching

Areas of teaching

Histories & Theories of Dress and Textiles

Courses taught

Fashion Design
Performance Sportswear Design
Fashion Photography
Fashion Marketing
Textile Design

Policy engagement within Cornwall

Engagement with organisations which contribute to the development of educational, cultural or socio-economic policies in Cornwal

Along with my colleague Julie Ripley we are beginning to expand on the Falmouth Fashion Archive, starting to engage with the local community to encourage the donation of garments to the collection and the dissemination of some of the stories from within it. There is no dedicated collection of textiles and dress in Cornwall - the closest is Exeter - and so this fills a gap within the county.

Professional engagement

Independent professional practice

I lecture for the Arts Society both around the UK and internationally. In 2017 I undertook a month long lecture tour of the East Coast of Australia talking about dress history and under the title of Senior Lecturer at Falmouth University.

Social, community and cultural engagement

Fashion and Textiles Institute Research Lecture series Revisiting a Royal Wardrobe: The Research and Display of Queen Alexandra's Surviving Garments, Monday 10 November 2014.
Twilight Talks lecture series at the Fashion Museum Bath in 2016 and 2018.

Engagement with professional associations and societies

Accredited lecturer for the Arts Society
International Conference co-ordinator for The Costume Society (2016-2018)

Professional esteem indicators

Year	Description
2011	Gervers Fellow, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto
2018	Historical Consultant for the Fashion Museum, Bath for Royal Women

Related courses

Course

Fashion Design BA(Hons)

Work in a supportive environment where together, we’ll nurture your growth towards becoming a future facing designer.

Course

Fashion Marketing BA(Hons)

Become part of the exciting, innovative and constantly evolving world of fashion marketing through this CIM accredited course.

Course

Fashion Photography BA(Hons)

On this course you'll develop your voice as a fashion photographer to help springboard you into industry. You’ll learn to become a networked...

Course

Sportswear Design BA(Hons)

Be part of this exciting, future-focussed course and graduate with excellent career prospects. On this course you’ll be able to apply your love of...