Valerie Cumming BA, CCHD, FMA: Chairman After postgraduate training at the Courtauld Institute of Art, Valerie Cumming spent 10 years as a costume and textiles curator. From 1981 to 1997, she was the Assistant Director, then Deputy Director and Chief Curator at the Museum of London. She is also Chairman of the Olive Matthews Collection of Dress and Textiles at Chertsey Museum and a trustee of the Daphne Bullard and Kathy Callow Trusts at the Museums Association. Her research interests include 17th century dress and society, royal and ceremonial dress, and 19th century theatre costume. These passions are reflected in a wide range of publications – seven books, numerous articles, catalogue entries, essays and reviews.

Sylvia Ayton: Vice chairman After a very thorough training at Walthamstow School of Art and Royal College of Art, Sylvia left in 1961 to start her own company before teaming up with Zandra Rhodes to run a short-lived but exciting business. Sylvia joined Wallis Fashion Group as outerwear designer in 1969 and in 1990 was awarded the MBE for services to the fashion industry, whilst continuing to work as an external examiner and part time lecturer to many BA (Hons) fashion courses. In 1980 she became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Member of the Jury of RSAS Student Design Awards (Fashion), and is joint Vice Chairman of The Costume Society. "Her passion is The Costume Society as it enables her to have a wide insight into the many aspects of costume which have inspired and influenced her as a designer.

Susan North: Vice chairman Susan North is curator of 17th and 18th century dress at the Victoria and Albert Museum. She studied art history as an undergraduate and has an MA in dress history from the Courtauld Institute in Dress History. Susan's passion is material culture: surviving garments and the fascinating lives they have led.

Jill Salen Dip. Des. PGCE: Hon Secretary & Archivist:Currently a lecturer in costume at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, with a career that started in fashion & textiles Jill finds that the Costume Society feeds all of these passions. In her free time she is a freelance costume maker specialising in ladies period costumes and corsets. Book Corsets:Historical patterns & techniques published by Batsford in 2008

Chris Godfrey: Treasurer Chris Godfrey is a retired certified accountant who has kept his brain active since 1995 looking after the society's accounting, during which its funds have grown tenfold. He reflects the passions of his wife, Kent Costume Trust's chairman Janet Godfrey, who gives talks on her large collection of early to mid 20th century costume and accessories.

Philip Warren: Events Sub-Committe Chairman Philip Warren is Keeper of Cultural Life for Leicestershire County Council Environment and Heritage Service. He is responsible for the Fashion and the Fine Art collections and manages the service’s Collections based Renaissance projects. He is the author of The Foundations of Fashion (2001) and was responsible for the creation of the Fashion Gallery at Snibston and the subsequent exhibitions displayed there since it opened in 2005. A graduate of, and former tutor at, the University of Leicester his interests include the relationship between fashion marketing and the consumer and the influence of sports clothing on fashionable dress since the end of the C18th.

Liz Booty: Trustee Liz is a lecturer in Fashion and Textiles at Wiltshire College, Trowbridge and at present is a trustee of the society. Meeting like-minded people with a shared interest has been one of the joys of being a member of the society along with attending the very varied events organised. Liz's passion lies with 20th century costume and Eastern ethnic dress.

Cally Blackman got her MA in History of Dress from the Courtauld in 1997. Since then she has lectured extensively on fashion and written several books including 100 Years of Fashion Illustration (2007) and 100 Years of Menswear (forthcoming). She is First Year Tutor on Fashion History & Theory BA Pathway at Central Saint Martin's and also teaches at Westminster and Sotheby's. Chairman of CHODA (The Courtauld History of Dress Association) for five years, she has been a Trustee of the Costume Society and currently is Sub-Committee Co-Ordinator of the Yarwood Award. Her interests include all aspects of dress history from the Renaissance onwards and she is currently focussing on fashion in early colour photography.

Linda Richards: Symposium Co-ordinator & Minutes Secretary Linda organised her first international conference in 1993 at the Museum of London and continued managing corporate entertaining at the Museum for six years. It was at the Museum of London that she perfected the costume curator’s instinctive moth-exterminating handclap. Then she moved on to a PA role in central government. Looking back over her career in the public and private sectors, she recalls her time in the West End offices of Howard & Wyndham, theatre proprietors, where she would take any opportunity she could to steal up to the attic workrooms of Madame Kirsta and her staff, to gaze in awe as they created the fabulous stage costumes destined for the famous Five Past Eight reviews on the northern theatre circuit.

Bridget Marrow: Newsletter Editor Bridget enjoyed a long career in Radio Drama (not much scope for costume there!). Since retiring she has made costumes for amateur drama as well as replicas for the Museum of London. She has worked as a volunteer at the Globe Theatre and Gunnersbury Park Museum. Her passions include all aspects of dress and textiles - past, present and future - and she makes lace.

Pat Poppy: Membership Secretary Pat Poppy is a librarian at Bournemouth University, where she helps provide subject support to courses as diverse as Computer Animation and Forensic Archaeology. She has been a member of The Costume Society for 30 years, and Membership Secretary for the last 10 years. Her passions are the early modern period (1500-1800) and re-enactment, preferably combined.

Naomi Tarrant BA FSA. Scot. FSA: Reviews Editor BBR (before blessed retirement) I was curator of costume and textiles at the National Museums of Scotland. I have been a member of the Society since 1968 and have been Secretary and Chairman, as well as compiling the Lists of Articles in Periodicals each year for Costume. I was also Secretary of the ICOM Costume committee and am currently on the editorial board of the Costume Society of Scotland, the committee of the Society of Authors in Scotland and an honorary curator for the National Trust for Scotland. My current interests are historic dress in Scotland, 18th century linen damask and Scottish samplers.

Penelope Byrde Ruddock MA, FMA: Editor, Costume Until I retired in 2002 I was Curator of the Assembly Rooms, Museum of Costume & Fashion Research Centre in Bath (now known as the Fashion Museum). I am a long standing member of the Society and served as Secretary for two year before my appointment as Joint Editor of the journal in 2008. I have written several books on the history of dress (as Penelope Byrde) and my particular interest is in 19th and 20th century fashion. One of my passions is dress in English literature, especially the works of Jane Austen.

Verity Wilson: Joint Editor. Verity worked for 25 years as a curator in the Asian Department of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Her expertise is in the field of Chinese studies and she has published widely on East Asian material culture. Her current research centres around national costume and dressing up. She had the opportunity to present a preliminary paper on this topic to the Costume Society in 2001.

Dr Ann Saunders: Honorary Editor, Costume 1967-present Ann Saunders read history at University College, London (where she was elected Fellow in 1992). Her PhD thesis at Leicester University was published as Regent’s Park. Among her many other publications are John Bacon RA, two re-written volumes on London for Arthur Mee’s Counties of England series, The Art and Architecture of London (now in its 4th reprint) and St Paul’s: the story of the Cathedral (2002). She has edited and contributed to The Royal Exchange (1997) and is co-author of The History of the Merchant Taylor’s Company (2004) and Honorary Editor to the London Topographical Society (since 1975). Ann was awarded the MBE for her services to history. Her passions are history, of which clothing is a part, and buildings.

Nigel Arch : Director, Kensington Palace Nigel Arch is Director of Kensington Palace—the former home of the late Princess Diana and her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. Arch began at Kensington in May 1982 as Curator of the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection. He assumed the Directorship in 1986. Arch's early career was in military history museums, first as Head of the Department of Art at the National Army Museum then later as Keeper of Military History at the Castle Museum York. Arch holds a B.A. with honors in Politics and Political History, a M.A. in War Studies, and an A.M.A. in the History of Art and is a widely-traveled lecturer. Arch has been named "Freeman of the City of London" and has been a guest speaker at Pink Ribbons Crusade exhibits since the charity’s creation in 2000. Arch currently lives outside of London and is married with one adult daughter.

Anna Buruma: Trustee Anna Buruma trained as a theatre designer at Central School of Art and Design. She worked in the theatre and later as a costume designer for television and film. In the mid 1990s she studied for an MA degree in the History of Dress at the Courtauld Institute. She is now the archivist at Liberty and works in the Central Saint Martins Museum Collection. She is interested in all aspects of textiles and dress, but because of her work is particularly drawn to the late 19th and the 20th centuries.

ALexandra MacCulloch is a curator of collections at Kensington palace which is home to the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection. She studied Modem History at Pembroke College Oxford and the History of Dress at the Cortauld Institute of Art; London. Before moving to Kensington she worked at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Chertsey Museum, Surrey and Buckinghamshire County Museum where she was the Keeper Art, Clothing and Textiles for six years. Particular research interests include the relationship between class and dress, and the history of English lace making

Jenny Lister: Trustee Jenny Lister is a Curator of Textiles and Fashion at the V&A, with particular responsibility for the 19th century collections. Recent projects include the development of the Specialist Subject Network for fashion and textiles, in partnership with DATS (Dress and Textiles Specialists), and the V&A's 60s Fashion exhibition. Particular research interests and passions range from eighteenth century milliners to boutiques in 1960s London.

Rod Quilter is a retired insurance broker who spent many happy years in the muck and machines of West Midlands and Black Country industry. His interest in fashion history grew from chance contacts with museum staff and a period working as a volunteer on the Symington Collection. Rod now has his own corsetry collection and fashion has overtaken earlier interests in architecture and photography. Rod's particular interests are British and European fashions of the 19th Century and the first half of the 20th Century - especially the corsetry of those periods.

Heather Toomer MA: Trustee HEATHER TOOMER M.A.(Cantab); Dip. Ed. is a freelance author, lecturer, and consultant on antique lace and related textiles. After a degree in science and many years of patent work, she is now devoting herself to her real enthusiasm, lace, and, particularly, its relationship to costume. Over the years she has set up various lace exhibitions including the touring exhibition ‘Lifting the Veil’. She has lectured widely on all aspects of lace history and her books include “Antique Lace: Identifying Types and Techniques” and her own publication “Baby wore white: robes for special occasions, 1800-1910”. As a long-standing member of the Costume Society and now a Trustee, she continues to enjoy the stimulation of lectures on a wide variety of costume topics and contact with specialists in other fields.

Judy Tregidden: Events Sub-Committee Vice Chairman Judy was educated at the Royal College of Art, Fashion Department and as a designer created fashions for the newly emerging teenager market of the 1960s. Judy combined designing and education through the next decades in her career as a lecturer in Fashion Studies and the History of Dress at Westminster College, London. She was a founder member of the Costume Society and has been a trustee of the Executive Committee on several occasions. Was Chairman and now Vice Chairman of the Programme Sub-Committee and has co-ordinated the annual symposium from 1999-2006. Judy is an associate of Courtauld History of Dress Association (CHODA). Her passions are the history and theory of dress, the 20th century and the creative art of fashion.

Jane Wattleworth. After completing a Degree in fashion design I was exceptionally lucky to be selected for trainee post as assistant Costume designer at the BBC where I received a rigorous training and worked on an eclectic mix of programmes including period drama, light entertainment and TV films. I then moved into the field of commercials and advertising as a Designer and stylist until a stint as a costume tutor at a local college led to a change of direction in my career. Now as Deputy head of a Large Art, Design and Media department I am thrilled to be surrounded by students in a young and creative environment.

Daz Smith: Web Designer BA (Social Sciences), MA (Post Colonial Texts). Undertook PhD research is English national Identity as expressed in popular music. Now a self-employed multi-media person concentrating on audio recording and mastering, graphic design, web design and photography. Strong intellectual interest in the ideas of post grand theoreticians in Humanities and their relationship to developments in science, music, and everyday life (popular culture). Musician of some 30 years experience, running record labels, playing guitar and singing. Avid reader of science, 20th century music biography, collector of vintage British and American sound equipment and guitars.