A History of Royal Fashion


Enjoyable course offered by Historic Royal Palaces and University of Glasgow via the FutureLearn platform looking at the history of royal and court fashion over 6 decades.

The course ran over five weeks but you could do it at your own pace. Each week a new chapter was released covering Tudors, Stuarts, Georgians, Victorians and Windsors. I must admit I thought I might find it a but simplistic but I learned a lot and, as importantly, enjoyed it.

I particularly liked the short videos either focusing on an object from the dress collection with one of the curators or conservators or showing how the clothes were put on with some of the palace’s historic interceptors. I wasn’t so keen on the practical exercises as you went through such as designing a crown and posting it online but I just read then skipped those.

So well as being packed with information I also liked the light this shed on the work of Historic Royal Palaces and I feel I know a lot more about the behind the scenes activities there.

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