Hannah Rumball

Dr Hannah Rumball is a Lecturer in Cultural Studies and Preparation for Industry within the Fashion Design (BA) program at the University of Westminster. Her expertise bridges dress history, material culture, and religious studies, with specialized focus on nineteenth- and early twentieth-century women's fashion systems, particularly tailored garments for women and Quaker Plain dress adaptations.

Her academic credentials include:

• PhD in Material Culture, Dress History and Quakerism, University of Brighton (2016)
• MA by Research in Quaker Dress Prescriptions, Kingston University (AHRC-funded)

Dr Rumball's research operates at the intersection of religious identity and fashion innovation, examining how British Quaker women negotiated Plain dress requirements with contemporary fashion sensibilities between 1860-1914 through surviving wardrobe artifacts. Simultaneously, she leads pioneering work on women's tailoring history through the Ladies Ulster coat - a waterproof overgarment invented by Belfast tailor John Getty McGee in 1871 - analyzing its transition from "eccentric-looking" to fashion "beau ideal" through material culture methodologies.

Her publication trajectory reveals consistent methodological rigor in material culture analysis of women's clothing (1750-1930), with increasing emphasis on gendered interpretations of tailoring techniques and waterproofing technologies. Recent works demonstrate sophisticated integration of archival garment analysis with socio-religious context, establishing new frameworks for understanding how religious communities navigate fashion systems.

Dr Rumball actively shapes scholarly discourse through leadership roles in two international research networks: the Nineteenth Century Dress and Textiles Reframed collective (hosting monthly open-access symposiums) and ACORSO's Tailoring for Women 1750-1930 project. These platforms facilitate cross-disciplinary collaboration among academics, curators, and makers to challenge historical assumptions in dress scholarship while engaging public audiences through museum exhibitions at institutions including The National Trust and William Morris Museum.