The ADH
Executive Committee
The Association of Dress Historians (ADH) Executive Committee lead on our tasks and outputs. The Executive Committee recruit and manage our Sub-Committee teams who operate all aspects of our charity, including awards, communications, events and media.
Executive Committee
Find out more about our Executive Committee team members in their biographies, including individual email contacts.
Chair and Trustee
Polly Putnam is Executive Committee Chair and Trustee of The Association of Dress Historians. Polly is a collections curator at Historic Royal Palaces. She specialises in the material culture of the long 18th century. She has published on the furnishing of Queen Charlotte’s Cottage in Kew, curating decorative arts and authenticity on museum presentation. She lectures at Kings College and Queen Mary. She began her career in museums and heritage at Temple Newsam House, Leeds Museums and Galleries where she oversaw the Ginsburg Bequest of nearly 2000 items of historic textiles, from the personal collection of Cora Ginsburg via her son Henry. Over the course of her career she has curated six costume exhibitions, most recently Crown to Couture at Kensington Palace which compared the dress and culture of the Georgian royal court with the contemporary Red Carpet. She can be reached at chair@dresshistorians.org
Awards Sub-Committee Chair
Kirsten Burrall is the team leader of the Awards Sub-Committee. She is committed to gathering nominations and presenting awards for Book of the Year, as well as several grants and post-graduate student awards. She is the owner and lead appraiser for Belle Historica: Fine Art Appraisals and Consultations. Her scholarly interest is in European textile and costume histories, specifically Medieval to Early Modern liturgical vestments and textiles, as well as costume and fashion design during the Aesthetic Movement and into the early twentieth century. She earned a BA in art history and studio art from Hartwick College, Oneonta, New York, and studied art history in Madrid, Spain, and Athens, Greece. She also interned at The Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Kirsten has an MA in art history from Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York. Kirsten is passionate about the stewardship of textile and costume collections and advocating for arts access in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, where she lives with her husband. Kirsten can be reached at awards@dresshistorians.org
Treasurer and Trustee
Sue Bennett is a chartered accountant with many years’ experience, much of which has been gained in the public sector in the UK. Although currently taking a career break whilst living in Austria, Sue has experience of working with Boards and Audit Committees in various roles and has held voluntary posts as a school governor. Sue has a keen lifelong interest in textiles and clothing, which is reflected in the exhibitions she seeks out and hobbies she pursues. She was taught to sew by her mother and makes some clothes as well as quilts, and she is an amateur weaver. Sue can be contacted at treasurer@dresshistorians.org
Conference and Events Manager
Since September 2021, Alba Sanz Álvarez has been a PhD student at The University of Edinburgh, Scotland, where her interdisciplinary research approach combines the study of fashion collectors, fashion collections, and museums. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in History of Art from Universidad Complutense of Madrid and two Master’s degrees from Stockholm University: one in Fashion Studies and the other in Fashion Communication and Marketing. She has gained experience in the fashion industry by working for the Swedish high-end fashion brand Acne Studios. Alba’s research interests also include gender perspectives within fashion and the ability to work with a different range of materials. Alba can be reached at email events@dresshistorians.org
Volunteer Officer
Irene Calvi is a PhD student within the fields of visual and fashion studies at the University of Bologna. Her last research for the MA course Arts, Museology, and Curatorship revolves around wearable technologies and countersurveillance. Irene is passionate about the cultural significance of fashion interpretation in museums, the new and emerging technologies, and the creation of international networks. She previously worked at Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art in Turin, Italy, as the Director’s Office. Irene was awarded a 2019 and 2020 Student Fellowship by The Association of Dress Historians. Irene is the ADH Volunteer Officer and can be reached at email irene.calvi@dresshistorians.org
Secretary
Ellie McCartney is Secretary for The Association of Dress Historians. She is currently working in National & International Partnerships at National Museums Scotland, Edinburgh. Ellie studied MLitt Art History: Dress & Textile Histories at the University of Glasgow, graduating in 2023 with a Distinction. Her dissertation – Fashion Illustrated and the Jewish Neue Frau in Weimar Berlin – examined the ways in which Weimar Berlin represented and disseminated imagery associated with the modern woman through illustrated magazines and vernacular forms of visual culture. The longevity of this project has allowed Ellie to conduct further research on Weimar Berlin visual culture, dress and textiles. This includes an upcoming book chapter publication. She additionally studied History of Art and History of Music at the University of Edinburgh, graduating in 2015. Ellie can be reached at secretary@dresshistorians.org
Newsletter Communication Lead
Valentina is currently working at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice as event planner for the Promotion of Innovation and Know-how Office.
She holds a Bachelor Degree in Language, Civilisation and the Science of Language at Ca’ Foscari University, where she also graduated with an MA in Economics and Management of Arts and Cultural Activities. Her dissertation focused on the relationship between art and fashion, a topic she is deeply passionate about, and explored the dialogue between these two fields through the work of Italian couturier Roberto Capucci. This research led to her being listed among the winners of the Brenda M. King Prize for Critical Writing in Textiles 2024, and she also had the opportunity to present her work at the ADH MA Graduate Roundtable in July 2024.
Valentina is the Communication Lead for the newsletter and can be reached at email communications@dresshistorians.org
