London Wholesale Couture

The Transnational Fashion Network at LCF is hosting an afternoon symposium on ‘London Fashion and its Transnational Networks: Couture – Wholesale – Workwear’ on Friday, 22nd March 2024 to share and showcase recently published and ongoing projects by UAL researchers and dress historians. The focus is on under-researched aspects of British fashion, from the 1930s to today, and the strategies and individuals behind its success as a creative economy. Dr Liz Tregenza (LCF) explores how Jewish immigrant entrepreneurs from across Europe revolutionised the London wholesale couture trade. Dr Michelle Jones (CSM) investigates how a collective approach to design practice and complex local and transnational networks re-shaped and sustained London couture in the 1930s and 40s. Emilia Boulton (LCF) is looking at how traditional British workwear has been adopted as fashionable leisurewear in Japan, and Eldina Begic (LCF) has researched workwear as a transnational phenomenon, emphasizing its less-explored social and utopian dimensions as a symbol of equality and solidarity.