Helen is a costume and visual historian with a special interest in theatre costume and portraiture, having worked in running wardrobe for several years after her BA. Her research has been focused on the intersection of performance, identity and the body in portraits of late 19th century actor-managers, and the problematic role of costume in narratives about authenticity in the same period. She has published articles on these topics in Visual Culture in Britain, Studies in Costume and Performance, Costume, and contributed a chapter to Pantouvaki and McNeil's Performance Costume: New Perspectives and Methods (2020). She is also Chair of Trustees at the Blandford Fashion Museum and as a fashion historian is a regular contributor to BBC Radio Arts & Culture slots.
At AUB, she teaches on MA Historical Costume and also supervises on the MRes Arts programme. In the past, she has taught Art and Design History courses for the University of the Creative Arts, the Courtauld Institute, Plymouth University, New York University (NYU) London, and Lawrence University's London Centre, and has experience of both the British and American academic context. Her specialism is working with practice-based students to develop contextual and theoretical research projects.
I teach on the MA in Historical Costume and also supervise on the MRes Arts programme.
I have previously taught:
Publications
Unpublished Conference Papers
Helen is interested in receiving applications from PhD students who wish to consider historical costume in a theatrical or heritage context. These could be students wishing to completee a PhD by either a practice-based or thesis route.