Jane Tynan is Assistant Professor of Design History and Theory. A cultural historian who holds degrees from Ulster University and University College Dublin, her PhD, from University of the Arts London, explored the significance of military uniform to the cultural legacy of the First World War. In 2020, she joined Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam from Central Saint Martins in London where she taught history and theory of design and developed the MA Fashion Critical Studies. Now at VU she leads the MA Design Cultures program, teaches on the BA MKDA Design track and also contributes to the new BSc Creative Technology (VU-UT). As well as extensive experience in curriculum design, course development and external examining, she is a Fellow of Advance HE (formerly HE Academy, UK) and has been visiting lecturer at Goldsmiths University of London, Royal College of Art London, University College Dublin and University of Oxford. Having supervised six PhDs to completion she welcomes new graduate students working within her areas of expertise.
dr. Jane Tynan
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Humanities, Art and Culture, History, Antiquity
Assistant Professor, CLUE+
My research lies at the intersection of history, fashion and politics. For me, clothing practices and technologies are critical to understanding modes of citizenship, governance and public trust. A recurring theme has been the political significance of uniform clothing, an embedded social practice that enabled the development of policing, military and public service roles in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. I have also researched distinctive clothing cultures associated with conflict, political imprisonment and social movements. In my latest project, I explore twentieth century developments in hydrophobic synthetic textiles that transformed expectations of leisure clothing and shaped perceptions of everyday weather. I am interested in climate-mediating design processes that leaned on ideas of body (dis)comfort to sustain fossil fuel dependence in the apparel industry. My focus on military-commercial interdependencies in the development of wearable plastics highlights the complex relationship between politics, materials, weathering, and body fashioning.
My research has reached wider audiences through blogs (The Conversation, RTÉ Brainstorm), TV and radio interviews (BBC UK, ABC Australia) podcast interviews (New Books Podcast), articles (Selvedge Magazine, BBC History Magazine) and media communications (The Independent, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, BBC News, CNN, Middle East Eye, National Geographic). I have served as peer reviewer for various publishers and journals, including Critical Military Studies, Cultural History, Journal of Material Culture, Fashion Theory, Textile, International Journal of Fashion Studies and Technology & Culture. In addition, I co-edit the book series Palgrave Studies in Fashion and the Body and sit on the editorial board of the Journal of Design History.
- Palgrave Studies in Fashion and the Body | London | co-editor | 2020-09-16 - present
- Journal of Design History | London | Editorial Board Member | 2021-01-28 - present
Ancillary activities are updated daily
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Keywords
- Design History, Trust, Solidarity, Design Cultures, Social Movements, Gender, Po...
Publications