Enjoy a private tour of The Fabric of Democracy with curator and design historian Amber Butchart. Take advantage of this exclusive opportunity to ask questions and hear behind-the-scenes details, all while the exhibition is closed to the general public. After the tour, explore the exhibition at your own pace with a glass of fizz in hand.
Discover how fabric designers and manufacturers have responded to political upheaval from the French Revolution through to Brexit. Hear how the mechanisation of textile industries from the mid-18th century led to the development of print techniques that could create more detailed imagery on cloth, quicker than ever before. These increasingly affordable processes ‘democratised’ textile decoration, allowing governments, regimes, and corporations to harness the power of print to communicate, from wartime slogans to revolutionary ideals.
Amber Butchart is a curator, writer and broadcaster who specialises in the cultural and political history of textiles and dress. She is a former Research Fellow at the University of the Arts London and is a regular public lecturer across the UK’s leading arts institutions. She researches and presents documentaries for television and radio, including the six-part series A Stitch in Time for BBC Four that fused biography, art, and the history of fashion to explore the lives of historical figures through the clothes they wore, and she is the history consultant and regular on-screen historian for BBC One’s Great British Sewing Bee. Amber is an external adviser for the National Crime Agency as a Forensic Garment Analyst, working on cases that require investigation of clothing and textiles.
Amber has published five books on the history and culture of clothes, including The Fashion of Film, Nautical Chic, and a history of British fashion illustration for the British Library.
Tours are limited to 20 people and will last 45 minutes. Exhibition entry and a glass of fizz are included with each ticket.
Image Credit: Amber Butchart by Fanni Williams.
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Confirmation email: Once you have made a booking, you will receive a confirmation email detailing all the information you will need prior to your event, this is your event ticket. You will also receive a reminder email one week prior to your event.
Event details: Please check your confirmation email for the start and finish times of your event. Upon entry, please present your ticket(s) on your device or a note of your booking reference number. Exhibition entry is included in your ticket, you are welcome to view the exhibition before or after the event.
Eating and drinking: No food or drink is permitted in the Museum, other than bottled water. The Fashion and Textile Museum is located in the heart of Bermondsey Street, surrounded by award-winning restaurants, cafes and pubs. So, if you would like to enjoy a meal or a drink before or after your visit, there is plenty to choose from.For more information, check out our plan your visit page or our FAQs.