University of Parma, was awarded an honorary Degree of Doctor of Design
by Kingston University in 1997.
Professor Ian Griffiths was Head of the well-known School of Fashion at
Kingston University for eight years from 1992, and simultaneously a Design
Consultant to the MaxMara Group. He was responsible for Kingston
University’sPerspectives In Fashion lecture series, which ran for five years,
and was the starting point for this book. He relinquished his headship of the
School of Fashion in June 2000 to focus on his creative role at MaxMara, but
continues to teach on an occasional basis and is currently researching a book
dealing with the history and theory of fashion from a practitioner’s perspective.
Brian Godbold’s career, culminating in his appointment as Design Director
at Marks & Spencer, is documented in detail in the chapter which he has
written for this book. His championship of design within the fashion industry
has resulted in his appointment as Deputy Chairman of the British Fashion
Council, and as a Council Member of the Royal College of Art. In addition
to honorary doctorates from the Universities of Southampton and West-
minster, he is an Honorary Fellow of the Shenkar College in Israel, a Fellow
of the Royal Society of Arts and the Chartered Society of Designers and
President of the Royal College of Art Society.
Lou Taylor is Professor of Dress & Textile History at the University of
Brighton, author of Mourning Dress, a Costume and Social History (Allen
& Unwin), the Study of Dress History (Manchester University Press), and
co-author (with Elizabeth Wilson) of Through the Looking Glass:History
of Dress from 1860 to the Present Day (BBC Book). She is a member of the
Editorial Board of Fashion Theory.
Rebecca Arnold is a Lecturer in the Cultural Studies department at Central
Saint Martin’s College of Art & Design, London. She has written widely on
twentieth-century fashion and her first book, Fashion, Desire & Anxiety, Image
and Morality in the 20th Century is published by I. B. Tauris in January 2001.
Nicola White is a lecturer in History of Art and Design, specializing in Fashion
at Kingston University, where she is also a Research Post Graduate. She has
also lectures at Central St Martin’s College of Art and Design. Her MPhil
thesis, sponsored by the MaxMara group was published under the title
Reconstructing Italian Fashion (Berg) and she has also published works on
Versace and Armani (Carlton Books).
Notes on Contributorsix