10 November 2016
Christopher Breward, Professor of Cultural History and Principal of Edinburgh College of Art, currently Rita Bolland at the RCMC, addressed some of the issues raised in his recent publication The Suit: Form, Function, Style (Reaktion Books, 2016). This widely reviewed book on the history and meaning of tailoring aimed to take familiar stories, reworking them for contemporary readers. Whilst he explained the ways in which the English suit has come to signify longstanding relationships of power and influence, Breward is also keen to set its form against and alongside contrasting methods of clothing the body.