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Advertising the Synthetics Revolution

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Join us for a private view of The Synthetics Revolution: man-made fibres and everyday fashion on Tuesday 4 October, where speaker Professor Regina Lee Blaszczyk from the Enterprise of Culture will look at how the world’s largest chemical company influenced post-war fashion.

Nylon, Orlon acrylic, Dacron polyester and Lycra spandex. These brand names rolled off the lips of American consumers between 1945 and 1970, thanks to the extensive advertising efforts of the American synthetics fibre maker, the DuPont Company. This lively presentation explores the story of DuPont as a marketer and advertiser, drawing visual images from popular magazines such as Life, House & Garden and Vogue, and the DuPont corporate archive in the USA.

Regina Lee Blaszczyk is Professor of the History of Business and Society at the University of Leeds, and project leader for The Enterprise of Culture, EU-funded collaborative research project on European fashion since 1945. She has published nine books, including Producing Fashion: Commerce, Culture, and Consumers (2008) and The Color Revolution (2012), which is the first historical study of colour forecasting. She specializes in the history of design and innovation for the creative industries, and makes a point of looking behind the scenes to connection fashion to the supply chain.

The private view includes a wine reception and will also offer a chance to hear more about The Synthetics Revolution: man-made fibres and everyday fashion exhibition.  Members of the curatorial team from the Enterprise of Culture, Yorkshire Fashion Archive and ULITA will be on-hand to give insights into some of the stories behind the collections.

This event takes place on Tuesday 4 October 2016 from 5.45 to 7.30pm at ULITA - an Archive of International Textiles at the University of Leeds. It is free to attend and all are welcome - please RSVP to enterpriseofculture@leeds.ac.uk.

The exhibition runs at ULITA until 1 December 2016.  See here for more information including opening times.

Image: Hubert de Givenchy prêt-a-porter in French fabrics made from DuPont fibres, 1954. Courtesy, DuPont corporate archive, Hagley Museum and Library, USA.