Leeds

Blaszczyk began research in the Marks and Spencer Company Archive for her Enterprise of Culture project, a book on synthetic fibres, textiles, and fashion. She also collaborated with the company archivist to plan a new teaching module, ‘History on the High Street’, which will expose Leeds students to EOC research starting in 2014-2015.

Blaszczyk discussed the history of fashion colour forecasting, and publicized the EOC project, at several venues internationally: the Hagley Museum and Library in Delaware, USA; the American Museum of Textile History in Lowell, USA; and an AHRC-sponsored workshop on ‘Technology, Expertise, and the Future’ at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Additional outreach was undertaken at the Pasold Conference on textile history in London, and at two events co-hosted by the Leeds Museums and Galleries and the University of Leeds: ‘Fashions from the Home Front’ and ‘Heritage Show + Tell’. Blaszczyk and Blair collaborated with the two Associated Partners, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Centre for Business History Stockholm, to plan ‘The Business of Fashion, Italian Style’ for February 2014 in London and ‘Swedish Innovation and High Street Fashion: Past, Present, and Future’ for March 2014 in Stockholm.

In November, Blaszczyk published ‘The Hidden Spaces of Fashion Production’ in Sandy Black et al eds., The Handbook of Fashion Studies (London: Bloomsbury, 2013). In a related vein, Blaszczyk received the Sally Hacker Prize for Exceptional Scholarship that Reaches Beyond the Academy from the international Society of the History of Technology for The Color Revolution (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2013), the first historical work on colour fashion prediction.

Blaszczyk advanced her book on synthetics, ready-to-wear, and interior design with research in company archives, newspapers, annual reports, trade journals, and interviews. Her publications included a special issue of the peer-reviewed Journal of Design History on ‘Colour and Design’, and revisions to Bright Modernity: Color, Commerce, and Culture in Historical Perspective (forthcoming with Palgrave-Macmillan, 2015-2016), which includes a chapter by EOC team member Ingrid Giertz-Mårtenson. Blaszczyk gave papers in Bristol, Brussels, Florence, and Paris, was interviewed by Swedish TV on fashion history and by British TV on department stores, and appeared in Dressing America: Tales from the Garment Center, a film on the New York fashion industry for US public television.

Other Leeds projects have synergized with the Enterprise of Culture:

Funding was secured from the European Commission to host Dr Barbara Hahn of Texas Tech University, USA, as a Marie Curie Incoming International Fellow at Leeds for 2014-2016. Hahn’s project, ‘Rethinking Textiles’, explores the early history of Yorkshire textiles, and will provide the EOC with the opportunity to collaborate with regional museums. Blaszczyk commenced work with Dr. Barbara Hahn in 2014.

Blaszczyk is writing a history of Abraham Moon and Sons, a West Yorkshire tweed mill whose customers include global brands such as Burberry, Ralph Lauren, and Chanel. This project complements the research of the St. Andrews team on Scottish woollens.

Project Administrator Fiona Blair undertook discussions with the M&S Company Archive, ULITA - an Archive of International Textiles, and the Yorkshire Fashion Archive regarding an exhibition and public programmes for 2016.