Introduction

In 2016, fashion historian Kate Strasdin was given an extraordinary object – an album of richly coloured and brightly patterned fabric scraps, all collected by one woman across the Victorian age. Speaking to Ellie Cawthorne, Kate reveals what Anne Sykes’ dress diary can tell us about style, culture and the experiences of ordinary women in the era – and how it led her to poisonous stockings and pirates in Borneo.

(Ad) Kate Strasdin is the author of The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes: Secrets from a Victorian Woman’s Wardrobe (Chatto & Windus, 2023). Buy it now from Amazon:

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