Professor Regina Lee Blaszczyk

School of History
University of Leeds
Leeds
United Kingdom

Regina Lee Blaszczyk is the Project Leader for The Enterprise of Culture. She joined the School of History, University of Leeds, as Chair in the History of Business and Society in 2013.

Regina Lee Blaszczyk is an editor at the Journal of Design History and has published seven books and numerous articles on the history of design, innovation, and consumer culture. Her first book, Imagining Consumers: Design and Innovation from Wedgwood to Corning (2000), introduced the concept of the 'fashion intermediary' to business and cultural historians. Blaszczyk‘s edited book, Producing Fashion: Commerce, Culture and Consumers (2008), and her co-edited special issue on 'Fashion' in Business History (2012), are among the few publications on this topic.

Her most recent book, The Color Revolution (2012), examines the little-known history of the creative profession known as colour forecasting. The Color Revolution focuses on US developments, but it has laid the groundwork for similar explorations in the European context. In October 2013, Professor Blazczyk was awarded the Sally Hacker Prize for The Color Revolution by the American Society for the History of Technology at their annual rewards ceremony in Portland, Maine. The Sally Hacker Prize is awarded for the best popular book written in the history of technology during the previous three years.

For this project, Regina will focus on the history on the important relationships among European fibre manufacturers, textile mills, and fashion producers, and on the role of mass-market retailers like Marks and Spencer and H&M in promoting new materials and bringing affordable fashion to the ordinary consumer.