Evening Talk : Dr Susan Kay - Royal School of Needlework

This year we are excited to announce that the Royal School of Needlework's Dr Susan Kay-Willams is presenting a talk titled 'A Brief History of Fashion in Embroidery' as part of the Hand & Lock Festival of Embroidery. This talk is essential for anyone who appreciate the importance of history when approaching contemporary design.

Fashion has long sought the embellishment of embroidery to make it stand out from the crowd. This fully illustrated lecture will show some of the ways embroidery has enhanced aspects of fashion over the last three hundred years from ball gowns to jeans, and how every material has been used, from silks, satins and gold to leather,rubber and plastics. The presentation will end with examples of who has been wearing embroidery recently. The evening will conclude with a 15 minute Q&A.


Dr Susan Kay-Williams is the Chief Executive of the Royal School of Needlework based at Hampton Court Palace, a role she has held for nine years. The RSN is the international centre of excellence for the art of hand embroidery. Susan lectures for NADFAS and is much in demand internationally having been invited to speak in Japan,China, Taiwan, USA, Germany and Canada. Her research area is in the history of dyes in textiles and she published a book on the subject in 2013.