‘How Textiles Made The World’—An Online Event From Virginia Postrel At The Fashion & Textile Museum
On December 2nd from 6-7.30 pm GMT join author Virginia Postrel for this online event exploring the hidden ways textiles have made our world and tracing this surprising history.
The story of humanity is the story of textiles-as old as civilization itself.
Textiles created empires and powered invention.
They established trade routes and drew nations' borders.
Since the first thread was spun, fabric has driven technology, business, politics, and culture.
In The Fabric of Civilization, Virginia Postrel traces this surprising history, exposing the hidden ways textiles have made our world.
The origins of chemistry lie in the colouring and finishing of cloth.
The beginning of binary code-and perhaps all of mathematics-is found in weaving.
Selective breeding to produce fibres heralded the birth of agriculture.
The belt drive came from silk production.
So did microbiology.
The textile business funded the Italian Renaissance and the Mughal Empire; it left us double-entry bookkeeping and letters of credit, the David and the Taj Mahal.
From the Minoans who exported woolen cloth coloured with precious purple dye to Egypt, to the Romans who wore wildly expensive Chinese silk, the trade and production of textiles paved the economic and cultural crossroads of the ancient world.
As much as spices or gold, the quest for fabrics and dyes drew sailors across strange seas, creating an ever-more connected global economy.
Synthesizing groundbreaking research from economics, archaeology, and anthropology, Postrel weaves a rich tapestry of human cultural development.
About the Fashion & Textile Museum
The Fashion and Textile Museum is the only museum in the UK dedicated to showcasing contemporary fashion and textile design.
The Museum is committed to presenting varied, creative and engaging exhibitions, alongside an exciting selection of educational courses, talks, events and workshops.
In place of a permanent collection is a diverse programme of temporary exhibitions, displaying a broad range of innovative fashion and textiles from designers and makers around the world.
The Fashion and Textile Museum was founded in 2003, by icon of British design, Dame Zandra Rhodes.
Today, the Museum is operated by Newham College, London – one of Europe’s largest further education colleges.
Situated in the heart of fashionable Bermondsey Village, the Museum is housed in a beautiful and distinctive building, designed by renowned Mexican architect, Ricardo Legorreta.
