Turney
Jo

Jo Turney is a Design Historian with an interest in everyday textile objects and practices. Her research spansations focus making and the manufacture of textiles (The Culture of Knitting, Berg, [2009]), through to their consumption, display and use (Floral Frocks, Antique Collector’s Club, [2007] and Images in Time, Wunderkammer [2011]). She is particularly interested in the ways in which users/wearers respond to and re-appropriate clothing and this is explored by her research into menswear and deviant behaviour, from the sub-cultural 1980s Casuals to today’s ‘hoodies’ and tracksuit wearing youth (Fashion and Crime, I B Tauris [2017]). Her research also encompasses analyses of garments hitherto marginalised from Dress History, such as the cardigan, and, the white singlet or ‘wife beater’ vest. From this interest in casual clothing, she is currently seeking to publish a book which will offer a more thorough investigation into non-formal or ‘comfortable clothes’. She is currently writing a social history of fashion in the 1970s, and plans to extend this historical focus to ‘In Private’ a book considering the cultural significance of 1970s domestic interior design in the UK & USA.