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Essay

Video Essay: Fashion in a Time of Crisis

published on 20 November 2020

In a summary of her on-going series of illustrated essays, fashion and dress historian Amy de la Haye presents a condensed video essay on Fashion In A Time of Crisis. After witnessing panic buying in the UK at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, de la Haye began to think about the shortages in WW1 and WW2, leading her to draw parallels between the ways in which dress has responded to historical crises.

In a piece to camera, de la Haye summarises four essays from the series. She discusses the Women's Land Army of WW1, the Zoot Suit Riots, Nazi control of the Paris haute couture industry and individual and industry-led responses to the AIDS crisis.

‘What unites my work is constructing narratives or telling stories about people’s lives - artists, designers, makers, wearers, observers, collectors - using dress as my primary source of evidence’ says de la Haye.

In a summary of her on-going series of illustrated essays, fashion and dress historian Amy de la Haye presents a condensed video essay on Fashion In A Time of Crisis. After witnessing panic buying in the UK at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, de la Haye began to think about the shortages in WW1 and WW2, leading her to draw parallels between the ways in which dress has responded to historical crises.

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