The Women Who Clothed the Stuart Queens

Join Sovereign Hill for the new series Making History and uncover the lives and histories of the artisans, makers, and rare trades practices of the past. Preserved in surviving wardrobe accounts belonging to six English queens are the names and signatures of women who forged successful careers via their needles and scissors. Together, they offer an extraordinary window into the changing world of women's work in the fashion trades in early modern England. In the seventeenth century, London became a centre for luxury consumption, fuelled by global trade and the influence of French fashion. At this time, elite women's patronage helped legitimise professional occupations such as milliner, mantua-maker, petticoat-maker, tirewoman and "Indian woman" for women. In this talk, Sarah Bendall will discuss the lives of some of these remarkable women, who appear in her new book The Women Who Clothed the Stuart Queens, whose labour helped create the enduring image of royalty and fashions that defined the seventeenth century. Copies of Sarah's book will be available to purchase after the question and answer session.