Interview with Dr Sarah Bendall: The Women Who Clothed the Stuart Queens

Sarah A. Bendall is a material culture and gender historian at the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, ACU. Her first book, Shaping Femininity, was published with Bloomsbury in 2021. It was shortlisted for the Society of Renaissance Studies (UK) biannual book prize in 2022 and awarded highly commended. She is co-investigator on the AHRC-funded Making Historical Dress Network with Dr Serena Dyer (De Montfort University) examining recreating dress. She’s also examining the widespread use of whaling products in fashion between the years 1500-1800.

Her second book, The Women Who Clothed the Stuart Queens, which she is talking about today, uncovers the lives and work of the women who made, sold, managed and cared for the clothing of the Stuart queens between the years 1603 and 1714.

Check out her website: https://sarahabendall.com/, where you will find blog posts and tutorials that feature her research and experimental reconstructions!