Collections & Research Staff

Alexandra Palmer
Senior Curator

B.A., Art History, University of Toronto, 1979
M.A., History of Costume and Textiles (in conjunction with the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art), New York University, 1981
Ph.D., Design History, University of Brighton, England, 1995

Alexandra Palmer is the Nora E. Vaughan Fashion Costume Curator for the Graduate Programme in Art History at York University. She is also a professor in Fine Art History at the University of Toronto and chairs the Veronika Gervers Research Fellowship in Textiles and Costume. Further to this she is the exhibition editor for Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture.

A Canadian born in Greece and raised in England, Alexandra received her Bachelor of Arts in Art History from the University of Toronto in 1979. She continued her studies at New York University with an M.A. in the History of Costume and Textiles. While studying in New York, Alexandra designed hats and dresses under her own label to Capezio, Patricia Fields, Therapy, Masima, Sassafras in New York, Martha's Vineyard and Robin in Toronto.

Prior to joining the ROM in 1996, Alexandra was Assistant Curator at the Kent State University Museum, and Assistant Professor for Craft and Design History at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. She has also lectured and taught at the Parsons School of Design; School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Ray College of Design in Chicago, The International Academy of Fashion Design and Merchandising, Ontario College of Art in Toronto, Sheridan College in Oakville and The School of Continuing Studies at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Palmer's research as a costume and textile historian covers the history of western textiles and fashionable dress, with particular emphasis on the 20th and 21st centuries. In the late 1980s, Alexandra worked at the ROM to develop the Costume Gallery in the Samuel European Collections and curated the inaugural exhibition Measure for Measure. In 1997, she curated Au Courant: Contemporary Canadian Fashion and Papiers à la Mode at The Institute of Contemporary Culture (2001). She has also curated the exhibits Unveiling the Textiles & Costume Collection (spring 2002) as well as Elite Elegance: Couture in the Feminine Fifties (November 2002- spring 2003). She has contributed to several exhibitions including Italian Arts & Design (2007).

Dr. Palmer has authored catalogue essays for many international exhibitions including: Un Secolo di Moda (2003), Villa Medici, Rome (2003), Christian Dior et le Monde, Musée Dior à Granville (2006), PAPERClothes, Benaki Museum, Athens (2007) and The Golden Age: Haute Couture 1947-1957, The Victoria & Albert Museum, London, (2007). Her book Couture & Commerce: The Transatlantic Fashion Trade in the 1950s (2001) won a Clio award for Ontario history.

Her writing credits also include contributions to The Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion (2005), and The Oxford Companion to Canadian History (2004). Alexandra provided her editing skills to Old Clothes, New Looks: Second Hand Fashion (2005) and Fashion. A Canadian Perspective (2004). Chapters written by Alexandra can be found in many books including Kulturanthropologie des Textilen (2005), Exploring Contemporary Craft: History, Theory & Critical Writing (2002), Framing Our Past: Constructing Canadian Women’s History in the Twentieth Century (2001) and The Culture of Sewing: Gender, Consumption and Home Dressmaking (1999).

Dr. Palmer is currently working on Christian Dior: Constructing History 1947-1957, (working title) to accompany the exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum planned for fall 2011.

Recent Publications

2009	Dior. A New Look, A New Enterprise 1947-57, V&A Publications.
2008	"Una breva storia della moda canadese," Giovanni Franci, Rosella Mangaroni eds. La Moda in Canada I libri di Emil: Bologna.
2007	"Haute Couture, Copies Nord-Américaines et Prêt-à-Porter." Michèle Ruffat, Dominique Veillon eds. La mode des sixties. L’entrée dan las modernité. Autrement: Paris, 2007.
2007	"Torontonian Taste in Couture" in The Fashion Reader Eds L. Welters and A. Lillethun, Berg: Oxford.
2007	"The Paper Caper. Fashions of the Sixties" in RRRIPP!! Paper Fashion Benaki Museum, Athens.
2007	“Inside Paris Haute Couture.” In The Golden Age; Haute couture 1947-57. London: Victoria & Albert Museum, (2007).
2006	“A Bomb in the Collection: Researching and exhibiting early twentieth century fashion.” The future of the twentieth century. Collecting, interpreting & conserving modern materials. AHRC Research Centre for Textile Conservation and Textile Studies: Archetype Publications: London. eds. Cordelia Rogerson and Paul Garside, (2006): 41- 47.
2006	“Christian Dior à New York.” In Christian Dior et Le Monde. Christian Dior Musée et éditions Artlys, (2006): 31-39.

Publications List (PDF)

Podcasts

Marie-Antoinette’s Dress
October 14, 2008
Embellished with silk embroidery, ribbon appliqués, spangles and glass stones, follow the journey of Marie-Antoinette's lavish dress from ROM's vault to the gallery. Discover the delicate conservation methods, innovative mounting techniques and the mesmerizing history of the woman who once wore this dress.

Video Podcast (27.2MB, 4m 14s)
Written Transcript (PDF)

Galleries
Patricia Harris Gallery of Textiles and Costume

ROM Images
Textiles and Costume

Research Projects
Early Twentieth Century Culture & Couture
Decor & Decorum
Couture & Commerce: The transatlantic fashion trade in the 1950s
Old Clothes, New Looks: Second Hand Fashion
Fashion: A Canadian Perspective

Other Links
George Brown College Dean's Lecture Series
New Stories - Textiles & Costume
Friends of Textiles and Costume (FTC)
University of Toronto Faculty Members

Contact Information
Department of World Cultures
Royal Ontario Museum
100 Queen's Park
Toronto, ON
M5S 2C6

Fax: 416.586.5877
E-mail: World Cultures

 

 

Dr. Alexandra Palmer

Dior. A New Look, A New Enterprise 1947-57, V&A Publications, 2009.

"Una breva storia della moda canadese," Giovanni Franci, Rosella Mangaroni eds. La Moda in Canada I libri di Emil: Bologna, 2008.