Edwina Ehrman

Curator of Textiles and Fashion
V&A, London

Edwina is a specialist in the history of London fashion and haute couture and author of the publication accompanying the exhibition Undressed (V&A Publishing, 2016, £10, paperback). Edwina was the curator of V&A exhibition Wedding Dresses 1775 – 2014. She has authored and co-authored numerous books and exhibition catalogues including London Couture: British Luxury 1923 – 1975 (V&A Publishing, 2015), The Wedding Dress: 300 Years of Bridal Fashions (V&A Publishing, 2011 and 2014), The Samplers of Judith Hayle (Needleprint, 2007), The London Look: Fashion from Street to Catwalk (Yale University Press, 2006) and Vivienne Westwood: A London Fashion (Philip Wilson Publishers, 2000).

Edwina was the Lead Curator for the V&A's Clothworkers' Centre for the Study and Conservation of Textiles and Fashion, which opened to the public in October 2013 at Blythe House, Olympia. This project involved the re-housing of over 100,000 objects from the V&A’s outstanding textile and fashion collection. The centre now offers the best possible access to the textile and fashion reference collection for the many researchers, students and enthusiasts who use it every year.

Between 1989 and 2007 Edwina was Senior Curator of Fashion and Decorative Arts at the Museum of London, where she curated many exhibitions including The London Look: Fashion from Street to Catwalk (2004), Stolen Skins? Fur in Fashion (2000), London Eats out (1999) and Sole City (1998).

Edwina is the chairman of Dress and Textiles Specialist Subject Network (DATS).

Abstract

Janet Reger, 1967-1983: Creating and marketing a luxury lingerie brand

Janet Reger founded Janet Reger Creations Ltd in June 1967. Sixteen years later, despite being acclaimed as ‘the queen of luxury lingerie’, and having a turnover of around £1million, Reger’s company went into voluntary liquidation. This talk seeks to define what luxury lingerie was in the 1970s and why Reger’s business failed. In particular it explores the part played by mail order in Reger’s business at a time when direct selling in the underwear industry was associated with the glamour industry, and in fashion with the mass market. Reger’s PR and marketing reflected and responded to both these markets while building a reputation for exclusive luxury. However by 1983 the company’s expansion in the face of recession and inflation outstripped its market and its spiralling debts forced its closure.