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Fashion And Textiles Education
Permanent Team
Clare Spencer
USA
Archive Co-Founder and Director
My vision for Fashion And Textiles Education is to continue to grow our relationships individually with academics internationally at universities and with institutions in the disciplines of Art & Design, Humanities and Sciences. My goals for FATE are for the archive and resources to be used as primary research including at PhD level for research students in the areas of collections, material culture, fashion, clothing, textiles and fibre research. I personally welcome inquires into the specifics of the collections and resources that the archive can offer research students. As always I'm thankful to our clients in the creative industries: fashion brands, feature film, TV, theatre, opera and welcome new inquires. I'm here to work to support your creativity.
Elaine Man
UK
Archive Manager
Grant Funded by Karun Thakar Fund and Victoria and Albert Museum
MA Candidate at the Royal College of Art and Victoria and Albert Museum
The FATE archive continues to provide opportunities to deepen my knowledge and understanding of global histories and cultures from an ethnographic approach and strengthen my visual literacy.
Working with culturally diverse and significant collections at the archive through documenting, researching and cataloguing, enables me to study meaning and significance of material culture. At FATE we not only study clothing and textiles' significance as art and design forms but also how as products of human manufacture, they are reflective of social, political and transnational histories.
FATE’s collaborative environment allows me to have varied and fulfilling roles including project managing archive storage, assisting creative industry appointments, research and preparation for academic publishing and as an undergraduate teaching assistant; all developing my skill sets for my future progression in my creative practice, academic research and education.
John Spencer
UK
Archive Co-Founder
I am a collector by nature, finding things on the journey of life. As the primary collector for the FATE Archive, my objective is to seek out, to locate and to acquire items for the collection. In essence to preserve clothing that may be studied, appreciated, or understood. With this ethos in mind, my work for FATE addresses the collection and conservation of garments which represent unique or interesting moments in the histories of fashion, clothing, textiles and production. The focus here is on material culture, not anything or everything, but a wide range of things which hold historic value and are also relevant today. Our shared vision is to build an archive that should be interesting in the future and maintain value in knowledge. Both personally and professionally I enjoy uncovering new acquisitions which can become a part of the FATE resource.
Past Team Members
Marnix Steenackers
Belgium
Previous Archive Manager
Lana Schadey
Ukraine
Intern 2022 - 2023
Daniil Kozyrev
Georgia
Archive Collections Photography, Feature Film Research, Brand Identity and Design
When I was first introduced to the FATE archive, I found myself drawn to its remit of ethnographic and sociological diversity. Compelled to support it, I contributed my time as an intern growing gradually into my role of archive manager. With every FATE project I look forward to distilling information and unveiling the value in knowledge hidden in material culture - ranging from historical garments and textiles to ephemera - through garment analysis, academic and fibre research.
As a young creative, I support FATE's core values of equality in differences, diversity and sustainability and strive to uphold these values while championing an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach to the fields of education, curation and research.
I’m thankful to FATE for allowing me to take on varied supporting roles; from curatorial and teaching assistant, assisting industry appointments (fashion, theatre & film) to creating original digital culture. My time at FATE has been and continues to be a unique opportunity to evolve creatively, build professional relationships and acquire knowledge through theory & practice.
Стажировка в FATE архиве открыла мне глаза на любовь к поиску идей через историю моды и костюма.
Мне было очень интересно изучать как была сделана архивная одежда и текстиль, и также узнать исторические методы производства.
Также меня ознакомили как навык ознакомления с исторической одеждой и текстилем может быть использован в профессиональной фэшн среде. Я очень благодарен Клэр за этот шанс.
During my internship at FATE archive, I had a fantastic educational experience where I was introduced to how garments and costumes can be used in fashion, film, and theatre industries. My focus during my time at FATE was to research and learn more about historical garments and textiles and see how they can be professionally used in application for the design process and development. I was lucky enough to study and analyse the exquisite garments and learn about the techniques and methods that were used to create them. Working with luxury clients in the industry was something good to experience and it showed me how professional you have to be with your ideas in the fashion industry. Thank you FATE for giving this opportunity, it was something magnificent and opened my eyes wider to fashion.
The Fashion And Textiles Education archive has given me a new perspective on material culture and the importance of highlighting sociologically and ethnographically diverse items, coming from various backgrounds that face the risk of historical marginalisation. I gained a further appreciation of material culture from a holistic approach.
Supporting Clare Spencer in the context of academia introduced me to an area that I was fascinated with. It encouraged me to look at fashion not just through a contemporary lens but to deeply explore its history, and I am keen to continue this exploration in my future career. Assisting on writing a syllabus, researching course material for lectures, and conducting interview strengthened my journalistic skills and taught me about nuances of academic publishing amongst other details.
I am thankful for being given the opportunity to deliver a guest lecture at University of California Davis about Crimean Tatars: an indigenous group in my home country, Ukraine as I was able to offer valuable information on a major social issue with global ramifications. I analysed the Crimean Tatars’ material culture in conjunction with explanations about their history and the repeated threat of ethnic cleansing at the hands of the USSR and now Russia. In my own practice I seek to continue to tell impactful and relevant stories balancing analysis of material culture with historical narrative and using my knowledge of languages to offer a variety of perspectives.
The intimate, collaborative atmosphere of FATE allowed me to tap into many roles and develop my diverse skillset through working as a teaching assistant, photographing archive items, internationally travelling to source material culture for the archive, assisting academic publishing, managing and creating visual media content, and much more.
April Zixuan Ge
China
Studio assistant, Client Liaison, Researcher
3 month internship
感谢Clare给了我这个机会成为团队的一员，FATE是一个对待事物对待服装充满尊重并且有很强知识底蕴的地方。我非常高兴可以在这里学习到衣服背后的历史和它作为它自己而度过的旅程。我感受到了我在这里成长，也很荣幸我可以在团队下和大家一起努力让更多新的机会新的故事诞生！
I’m grateful I can have this opportunity to be part of the team. FATE is a place where they treat things and garment with strong respect, and have profound knowledge around antique garments. I’ve learned the history and journey of antique garments by being here. It is such a precious experience.
Chaney Manshu Diao
China
Researcher, Media Content Developer
5 month internship
FATE是一个开放且包容的环境，在这里工作对我来说非常开心。从我被分配到的工作之中，我逐渐积累了更多关于衣服及面料的知识。
FATE archive provides an open and inclusive environment, which is a great pleasure for me to be part of. I’ve picked up so much knowledge around garments, textiles, and fibre research during the varied, yet well-constructed, tasks given by Clare at the time-period when I joined.
Honor Rose Cooper Hedges
UK
Editor, Researcher, Studio Management
6 month internship
Interning with the FATE Archive is a unique experience and an opportunity to expand your view of the fashion industry; working hands on with exquisite garments alongside visual research, assisting on projects and digital design.
Ayaka Nakagawa
Japan
Researcher, Project Developer, Archiver
6 month internship
ここで過ごした時間はとても貴重でたくさんのヴィンテージやアンティークの服たちに囲まれてClareからヴィンテージファッションのことやその時代や文化の背景を学びました。
My time as an intern at the FATE archive is really precious to me because I learned about the cultural background of vintage and historical Fashion