Dr Jo Turney PhD, MA, FHEA
Associate Professor of Fashion
Jo Turney is a Design Historian with an interest in everyday dress and textile objects and practices, and particularly the praxis at which the ordinary becomes extraordinary.
“I hate slick and pretty things. I prefer mistakes and accidents. Which is why I like things like cuts and bruises - they're like little flowers. I've always said that if you have a name for something, like 'cut' or 'bruise,' people will automatically be disturbed by it. But when you see the same thing in nature, and you don't know what it is, it can be very beautiful.” ― David Lynch
“I hate slick and pretty things. I prefer mistakes and accidents. Which is why I like things like cuts and bruises - they're like little flowers. I've always said that if you have a name for something, like 'cut' or 'bruise,' people will automatically be disturbed by it. But when you see the same thing in nature, and you don't know what it is, it can be very beautiful.” ― David Lynch
Her research considers everyday practices in a variety of ways, from the making and meanings of textiles (The Culture of Knitting, Berg, [2009]), through to their consumption, display and use (Floral Frocks, Antique Collector’s Club, [2007] and Images in Time, Wunderkammer [2011]). She is particularly interested in the ways in which users/wearers and society[ies] respond to and re-appropriate clothing and this is explored by her research surrounding women’s clothing in sexual assault court cases, and also menswear, and its relation to deviant behaviour, from the sub-cultural 1980s Casuals to today’s ‘hoodies’ and tracksuit wearing youth (Fashion and Crime, Bloomsbury [2018]). Her research also encompasses analyses of garments hitherto marginalised from Dress History, such as the cardigan, and, the white singlet or ‘wife beater’ vest.