Bacton Altar Cloth, Treasures of Gold and Silver Wire

Textiles are more than a form of decorative art—they have a silent tool of rebellion, storytelling, and resilience. Eleri Lynn, Curator of the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection at Historic Royal Palaces will reveal stories about these hidden histories stitched into fabric. She will explain how needlework has served as a powerful act of resistance and illustrate some extraordinary examples from the Royal School of Needlework. She will examine the cultural history behind these textiles, talk about the individuals responsible, and also discuss how textiles became a form of self-expression for marginalized women.

Eleri Lynn is a fashion and textiles historian, curator, and author. She worked in the Textiles and Fashion Department of the V&A Museum before becoming Curator of the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection at Historic Royal Palaces and Head of Exhibitions at National Museum Wales. She is a Trustee of the Royal School of Needlework. She appears frequently on TV, most recently featuring in the BBC2 ‘Art That Made Us’ series and BBC1’s ‘Elizabeth: Fashioning a Monarch’. She is the author of several books which include Tudor Textiles (Yale University Press, 2020). She has curated several major fashion and textiles exhibitions including The Lost Dress of Elizabeth I (Hampton Court Palace, 2019), and Crown to Couture (Kensington Palace, 2023).

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