Veronica Isaac

Memberships (professional bodies)

Dress and Textile Specialists Network (DATS)

Career summary

BA, English Lit and History (York), MA, Museum and Gallery Studies: Specialising in the History of Textiles and Dress, (Southampton). PhD, Dressing the Part: Ellen Terry (1847-1928): Towards a Methodology for Analysing Historic Theatre Costume, University of Brighton.

I am a dress historian with a particular specialism in the dress and theatre costume of the mid to late nineteenth and early 20th century. My research practices and methodology are grounded in Dress History and Material Culture, but stretch beyond the confines of these disciplines.

I worked in the museum sector, and with the Victoria & Albert Museum for over a decade and continue to provide curatorial advice on a freelance basis. I am currently working as a lecturer, teaching the History of British Fashion and Critical Studies to BA students at the University of Brighton and New York University London.

Areas of interest / research

I am particularly interested in the information portraiture can reveal about dress and textiles, both in relation to the garments themselves, and their wearers/owners.
My own research focuses on the history of theatrical costume and the impact that the Aesthetic movement had on dress both on and off the stage.

Details of books/publications relating to your work on British portraiture

• ‘A Well-Dressed Actress’: Exploring the Theatrical Wardrobe of Ellen Terry (1847-1928), Costume 52.1 (2018): 74-96.
• ‘Walking in Flora and Fauna: A Nineteenth Century Dress and Hat’, a case study produced for the book published to accompany the exhibition Fashioned from Nature at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, from 21 April 2018 to 27 January 2019.
• Towards a New Methodology for Working with Historic Theatre Costume: A Biographical Approach Focussing on Ellen Terry’s (1847-1928) ‘Beetlewing Dress’, Studies in Costume and Performance 2.2 (2017): 115-136.
• ‘Costume in Opera’, Oxford Handbook of Opera (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014).
• “Poppies, Lilies, Poets and Potatoes: An initial Exploration of Aestheticism and its impact on the operettas of Gilbert & Sullivan”, Online publication of a conference paper (2013).
• ‘The Art of Costume: Highlights from the wardrobe of the Painter’s Actress’, Nineteenth Century Theatre and Film, Volume 39, Issue 1 (Summer 2012).
• ‘Presuming too far ‘above his very base and low degree?’: Thomas Cromwell Use of Textiles in his scheme for social and political success (1527-1540), Costume, 2011, Vol.45, pp.8-23.