The ADH
Trustee Board
The Association of Dress Historians (ADH) is governed by The Trustee Board, whoare voted in by ADH members.
Our Trustees are legally responsible and accountable for ADH governance, management, and administration. They ensure that our organisation is carrying out its charitable objectives.
The Trustee Board
The Association of Dress Historians (ADH) is governed by The Trustee Board, which is voted in by ADH members.
The Trustee Board is legally responsible and accountable for ADH governance, management, and administration.
The principles and objectives of ADH are set out in the following:
ADH Constitution
ADH Code of Conduct
ADH Code of Ethics
ADH Diversity and Inclusion Policy
The ADH acknowledges and appreciates the contribution of former Trustees:
Lisa Bartup (2020-2022)
Jane Shepard (2016-2019)
Tara Tierney (2015-2021)
Janet Mayo (2015-2021)
Jennifer Daley (2015-2021)
Helen Margaret Walter (2011-2016)
Jane Bridgeman (2011-2015)
Chair of Trustees
Dr. Vicki Karaminas is Professor of Fashion and Director of Doctoral Studies for the School of Design at Massey University, New Zealand. Her book publications (with Adam Geczy) include; Gastrofashion from Haute Cuisine to Haute Couture (2022), Fashionable Masculinities. Queer, Pimp Daddies and Lumbersexuals (2022), Libertine Fashion. Freedom, Sexual Rebellion and Style (2021), Gaga Aesthetics. Fashion, Art, Popular Culture and the Upending of Tradition (2021), Fashion Installation: Body, Space and Performance (2018), The End of Fashion: Clothing and Dress in the Age of Globalisation (2018), Critical Fashion Practice from Westwood to Van Beirendonck (2017), Fashion and Masculinities in Popular Culture (2017), Fashion’s Double: Representations of Fashion in Painting, Photography and Film (2015), Queer Style (2013) and Fashion and Art (2012). She is the editor (with Adam Geczy) of the book series Anthem Studies in Fashion and Visual Cultures and Style Discourses. Fashion, Art and Culture (Rutgers, US) and founding editor of The Australasian Journal of Popular Culture and the Journal of Asia–Pacific Pop Culture. Professor Karaminas is a member of the advisory and editorial boards of a number of associations and international journals, including The Journal of Dress History, Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress and the Body; Film, Fashion and Consumption; the International Journal of Fashion Studies; and Zone Moda Journal. Vicki can be reached at email vicki.karaminas@dresshistorians.org
Secretary for the Trustees of The Association of Dress Historians
Emily Taylor is Secretary of The Association of Dress Historians. She is currently Assistant Curator of European Decorative Arts at National Museums Scotland, with a focus on working with the pre–1850 element of the Fashion and Textile collection. Her primary research area is on fashion construction and fashionable identities, circa 1700–1850. In 2013 she completed a PhD at The University of Glasgow, titled, Women’s Dresses from Eighteenth Century Scotland: Fashion Objects and Identities. She completed an MLitt in Decorative Arts and Design History at The University of Glasgow in 2007, and has previously had voluntary and paid roles with York Museums Trust, National Museums Scotland, and Glasgow Museums. Emily can be reached at email trustees@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.
Trustee
Hilary is an enthusiastic amateur when it comes to dress history. Her interest is mainly driven by a passion for embroidery – Hilary runs her own business making modern embroidery kits and patterns. Until October 2020, Hilary was Chief Executive of the National Hair & Beauty Federation, the UK trade body for independent hair salons, barbershops and beauty salons providing membership services such as employment law advice, business information, COVID advice, campaigning and representing the industry in the media, including TV and radio. Hilary managed a team of 13 people and turnover of about £1.5 million per year. Hilary was previously Director of Membership at the Institute of Leadership & Management and has served as a Board member for several organisations, including charities. Hilary’s Masters degrees are in Education and in Events Management, both with distinction, and she has completed training courses in leadership, strategy, finance, governance and marketing.
Trustee
Joseph “Joe” Henry Hancock, II is an international authority in the area of fashion branding as a form of storytelling. He is known internationally for his scholarship on cargo pants, LGBTQIA fashion and retail culture. He started in academia after 20 years in the retailing industry having worked for such legendary companies as The Gap, L. Brands, and Target Corporation. For the past 10 years, Dr. Hancock has been the Principle Editor of the peer-reviewed journal Fashion, Style and Popular Culture (Intellect Publishers) and he is working on a monograph discussing Jeans (2024 and a third edition of his first book soon to be called Fashion Branding Stories (2022) both with Bloomsbury Press. In the area of leadership, he is the former Executive Director for Events for the Popular Culture/American Culture Associations (PCA/ACA, 2010-2015) and serves on the editorial board of both their journals. He is extremely honored to be a trustee of the ADH.
Trustee
Kelly L. Reddy-Best is an associate professor in Apparel, Merchandising at Iowa State University and the curator and director of ISU’s Textiles and Clothing Museum. In her research she examines the interrelationships of dress, identity, consumption, regulation, and the fashion system. All of her work is rooted in a social justice lens. She has taught courses across the apparel curriculum in design, product development, merchandising, culture, and history.
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.
