Dr. Alison Matthews David

Co-Editor

Toronto Metropolitan UNIVERSITY
 

Dr. Alison Matthews David is an Associate Professor in the School of Fashion and served as Graduate Program Director of the MA Fashion program, Toronto Metropolitan University from 2014-2017. She was awarded a doctorate from Stanford University and has published in journals such as Victorian Studies, Fashion Theory and Textile. Her most recent research project looked at how clothing physically harmed the health of its makers and wearers by transmitting contagious disease, leaching chemical toxins and causing accidents, including entanglement and fire. The book Fashion Victims was published by Bloomsbury in 2015 and took the form of a major, co-curated exhibition at the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto (June 2014-May 2018). That research led her to continue her literal historical sleuthing and her current book and exhibition project investigates the history of clothing and crime. She is also experimenting with historical reconstruction and film in her recent "Making History" project, which documented the research, creation and performance of an 1840s suit.