Hilary Davidson (2)

Hilary Davidson is a dress, textiles and fashion historian and curator. After dropping out of high school to pursue her interests through global travel, she trained as a bespoke shoemaker in her native Australia before completing a Masters in the History of Textiles and Dress at Winchester School of Art (University of Southampton) in 2004. Since graduating, Hilary's practice has concerned the relationship between theoretical and highly material approaches to dress history, especially in the early modern and medieval periods. As a skilled and meticulous handsewer, she has created replica clothing projects for a number of museums. In 2007, Hilary became curator of fashion and decorative arts at the Museum of London. She contributed to the £20 million permanent gallery redevelopment opening in 2010, and curated an exhibition on pirates, while continuing to publish, teach and lecture in the UK and internationally. In collaboration with Museum of London Archaeology, Hilary began analysing archaeological textiles and continues to cross disciplines by consulting for in this area in England and Australia. From 2011, she has appeared as an expert on a number of BBC historical television programmes. She also has been a jewellery designer, graphic designer, photographer, gallerist, and worked in retail fashion and vintage clothing. Her first book was Dress in the Age of Jane Austen (2019), and she completed a PhD by publication at La Trobe University, Melbourne, on knowledge making and materiality in pre-modern dress (2020). Hilary has taught and lectured extensively, including at the University of Southampton, Central St Martins, the University of Cambridge, the University of Glasgow, New York University London, The American University Paris, Fashion Design Studio TAFE Sydney and the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), Sydney. She speaks regularly at academic conferences and to the public.