AD In 1838, a young woman was given a diary on her wedding day. Collecting snippets of fabric from a range of garments she carefully annotated each one, creating a unique record of her life and times. Her name was Mrs Anne Sykes.
Nearly two hundred years later, the diary fell into the hands of Kate Strasdin, a dress historian and museum curator. Strasdin spent the next six years unravelling the secrets contained within the album’s pages – and now her journey is detailed in a brand new publication from Vintage Books, The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes.
When I was offered the opportunity to review this book I simply jumped at the chance! I LOVE my fashion history! From visiting iconic exhibitions like the Dior: Designer of Dreams one at the Victoria and Albert Museum to reading ALL the fashion history books (including Kate Strasdin’s earlier books), I knew this was one book I wanted to read.
The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes – The Book
Piece by piece, she charts Anne’s journey from the mills of Lancashire to the port of Singapore before tracing her return to England in later years. Fragments of cloth become windows into Victorian life: pirates in Borneo, the complicated etiquette of mourning, poisonous dyes, the British Empire in full swing, rioting over working conditions and the terrible human cost of Britain’s cotton industry.
This is life writing that celebrates ordinary people: the hidden figures, the participants in everyday life. Through the evidence of waistcoats, ball gowns and mourning outfits, Strasdin lays bare the whole of human experience in the most intimate of mediums: the clothes we choose to wear.
The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes – My Thoughts
I’ve always been a fan of Kate Strasdin’s work – I LOVED her book about the wardrobe of Queen Mary! She writes about dress history in such an interesting and accessible way, and this is evident in The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes.
What I love most about this book is the way that dress history (via a very unique and personal diary) is used as a lens to look at so many aspects of Victorian society and life. From the serious (slavery) to the frivolous (fancy dress), and everything in between – even pirate flags (!) – its a breathtakingly broad exploration of Victorian economy and culture. And it all stems from just one fabric scrapbook.
Kate Strasdin does not present us with a facsimile of the album itself, although there are illustrations to help the reader visualise the fashion she is writing about. I think more images of the album itself would have been useful. As well as naturally wanting to see the diary which inspired the book, if you have no prior knowledge of dress history I think it could be a bit difficult to visualise the different types of materials the author describes.
Despite this, I still think The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes would make the PERFECT gift for any fashion history lover. Its such a clever book – so many people people dismiss fashion history as frivolous, but the approach taken by Strasdin in using her fascinating find to decode one of the most fast moving periods of history is truly remarkable.
The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes – The Author
Kate Strasdin is a dress historian who has been fascinated by old clothes since she was a child. She is a lecturer in Cultural Studies at Falmouth University and is a freelance consultant for dress and textile exhibitions. She has appeared on The Great British Sewing Bee as an expert.
In 2016 she was given an anonymous album full of annotated dress swatches that had been kept in a trunk for over fifty years, its original keeper unknown. She spent the next six years unlocking its secrets.
The Dress Diary of Mrs Anne Sykes was released on the 23rd of February 2023.
Would like to read more books about fashion history? Then check out my popular post all about my fave fashion history books. Or if you’re more of a period drama buff, check out these stylish period dramas all about fashion!