Meet our staff

Professor Emerita Rachel Worth

Professor (Emerita) History of Dress and FashionBA (Cantab), PGCE, MA, PhD
Email me: rworth@aub.ac.uk

Overview

I graduated with a degree in history from Newnham College, University of Cambridge in 1985. Having obtained a PGCE (University of Bristol) and MA in History of Dress at the Courtauld Institute of Art, I completed the Graduate Management Training Scheme at Marks and Spencer Plc in 1991 before embarking on a career in teaching and research. I was invited to join the Executive Committee of the Costume Society as a trustee and chaired the Education Sub Committee (2001-03), which had recently been established for the advancement of fashion education in the UK. I was the first external examiner for a pioneering new undergraduate programme at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design (University of the Arts) in Fashion History and Theory (2001-06).

I joined the Arts University in 1999 with responsibility for setting up an innovative BA (Hons) degree in Fashion Studies integrating the practice, history and theory of fashion. I later became Head of Research Development and coordinated AUB's first submission to the RAE in 2008.

My work is currently focused on writing for publication, as well as consultancy for developing sustainable fashion solutions. I am a maker and I also work part-time in clothing retail.

I am a passionate advocate of sustainable practices in clothing design and making.

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Contact:

Name: Professor Emerita Rachel Worth she/her
Email: rworth@aub.ac.uk
ORCID ID: https//orcid.org/0000-0001-8626-0388

    Qualifications

    Qualifications

    • PhD (Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London)
    • MA History of Dress (Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London)
    • BA (Hons) History (Newnham College, University of Cambridge)

    Teaching Qualification

    • PGCE History and Humanities (School of Education, University of Bristol)

    Teaching

    From 1999, I was Course Leader, BA (Hons) Fashion Studies, Arts University Bournemouth, with responsibility for writing and managing a new degree course, teaching fashion history; theory; design / practice; marketing.

    2012-14: Visiting Professor, Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, teaching MA courses on fashion history and its documentation.

    1992-99: Senior Lecturer, BA (Hons) History of Art and Design and MA History of Design and Visual Culture, Staffordshire University, teaching on undergraduate and masters courses on the history of art, design and fashion.

    1990-91: Guest Lecturer, History of Fashion, Kingston Polytechnic, teaching various topics on the history of fashion.

    Research

    Research Interests and Projects

    I have lectured and published widely on the history of clothing retailing and democratisation; working-class and non-elite clothing; the relationships between fashion and class; and, most recently, historical perspectives on fashion and sustainability. Articles have appeared in publications such as Costume: The Journal of the Costume Society; Textile History; Rural History; Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body and Culture.

    An AHRC award in 2005 brought to fruition my book on the democratisation of fashion, Fashion for the People: A History of Clothing at Marks & Spencer (Berg, 2007). I was also awarded a research grant from the Museum of English Rural Life to complete a book, Clothing and Landscape in Victorian England: Working-Class Dress and Rural Life (I. B. Tauris, 2018). More recent publications include Fashion and Class (Bloomsbury, 2020), while current research, The Hidden Life of Clothing: Historical Perspectives on Fashion and Sustainability is published by Bloomsbury (2023).

    My publications have led to a number of media contributions, including to BBC Radio 4, BBC 2 series Shopgirls and The Great British Sewing Bee.

    Research Supervision

    Rachel Jackson: A Practice-based Methodology for Narrating the Past in Collections of Textiles and Dress

    Past supervisory experience is around the history of clothing retailing and sustainability including:

    Emma Brandon-Jones: Institutional and capability perspectives on sustainability in operations and supply management: A dual theoretic analysis of the UK fashion sector

    My Research Gallery

    Awards and Prizes

    Notable awards/prizes

    • 2012-13: Research Fellow, MERL (Museum of English Rural Life, University of Reading) in support of research for Clothing and Landscape in Victorian England: Working-Class Dress and Rural Life (I. B. Tauris, 2018).
    • 2005-06: AHRC (formerly AHRB) Research Leave Scheme in support of completion of Fashion for the People: A History of Clothing at Marks & Spencer (Oxford: Berg, 2007).