Interested Parties

The first ever Interesested Party. This event is an evening of learning from passionate experts in the glamorous enviroment of 68 & Shanghai cocktail bar.

Our first speaker is Jessica Fletcher, theatre wardrobe professional, and fashion history nerd, is often to be found talking about clothing and dress as understood through pop culture. Her work has explored perceptions and presentations of gender, feminism, and the use of dress in storytelling, covering topics from Mom Jeans, to cross dressing in film comedy. Her main work has been on Integral Pockets in Women's Clothing at the fin de siécle.

She has worked backstage in the West End for 15 years in various wardrobe roles on award winning shows including Jersey Boys, Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, and Moulin Rouge! The Musical. She has an MA in Fashion History and Culture from London College of Fashion, a Queen's Guide Award from Girlguiding, and a clean driving license from the DVLA. She will be giving her talk titled "That's Why Her Pockets are So Big; They're Full of Secrets!"

A study of integral pockets in women's clothing at the turn of the 20th century, from those who wore them and those who observed them, contrasting them with alternative means of carry possessions such as handbags and châtelaines. This talk will also explore the links between the New Woman and the suffragist, and their depictions in publications such as Punch, where the symbolic use of pockets creates a satirical shorthand.

Our second speaker is Ruby Hodgson, the Curator of the Goldsmiths Textile Collection and the Curatorial Operations Coordinator at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Her research explores the intersections of textile history, fashion, and material culture. Ruby’s chapter, “Robe à la Grand-Mère: The Reuse of Eighteenth-Century Silks in Romantic-Era Fashion,” appears in Reading the Thread: Cloth and Communication (Bloomsbury Academic). She has been featured on BBC’s Secrets of the Museum, discussing hazards in the V&A’s textile collection, and has written for World of Interiors magazine on the V&A Blythe House Decant project. She will be giving her talk titled "In Defence of Romantic-Era Fashion".

Frilly, flouncy, and undeniably silly, fashion from the 1810s to 1840s got seriously weird. Curator Ruby Hodgson unpacks the puffed sleeves and reveals why maybe we should bring a little Romantic excess back into our wardrobes today.

Please arrive from 6.30pm, get in your drinks and snacks, maybe make new friends, and our first speaker will be starting their talk at 7pm. The talk will last for 30 minutes and we will then take a 15 minute break, for everyone to reset, get any more refreshments you'd like ready for our second talk. This will again be 30 minutes. After both talks are done we encourgage everyone to stick around if you'd like - the bar will still be serving - and take the opportunity to talk with our amazing experts and the other Interested Partygoers.

If you want to just sit back and absorb the knowledge, please do, but we don't mind anyone who wants to have a notebook out, but please don't record any part of the talks.