“The widths of woven cloth are important to the shaping of garments made from them… . It is almost too simple a thought to be noticed, and yet it must be.”
—Cut my Cote (1973), Dorothy K. Burnham

The ancient techniques of weaving garments to shape with minimum waste, wrapping a length of one selvedge width of textile around the body, or knitting an item of dress with a single length of yarn and no waste remain sustainable options today. This presentation will explore the production of wasteless and wasteful garments from the time of Christ to today.

A Dress and Textile History lecture.

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Jenny Tiramani is the principal and a founding member of the School of Historical Dress, London. Publications include Patterns of Fashion 4: The content, cut, construction and context of linen shirts, smocks, neckwear, headwear and accessories for men and women c. 1540–1660 (2008), with Janet Arnold and Santina M. Levey; Patterns of Fashion 5: The content, cut, construction of bodies, stays, hoops and rumps c. 1595–1795 (2018); Patterns of Fashion 6: The content, cut, construction of European women’s dress c. 1695–1795 (2022); and three books for the Victoria & Albert Museum on seventeenth-century dress. She has worked as a stage designer since 1976, receiving the 2003 Laurence Oliver Award (Best Costume Design) for the Shakespeare’s Globe production of Twelfth Night and the 2014 Tony Award (Best Costume Design) for the revival at the Belasco Theater on Broadway, New York. Opera designs include costumes for Anna Bolena, Metropolitan Opera, New York, in 2011, and Andre Chenier, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 2015.