Alison Matthews David

Dr. Alison Matthews David is Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director, MA Fashion in the School of Fashion, Ryerson University. She holds a PhD in Art History from Stanford University. She has published on synthetic dyes, colour theory and the aesthetic movement, Victorian riding habits and the ‘fast woman’, military uniforms, early Vogue magazine and fashion in Anne of Green Gables. Her most recent research includes the co-curated exhibition Fashion Victims: The Pleasures and Perils of Dress in the 19th Century at the Bata Shoe Museum, on display until June 2016 and her book, Fashion Victims: The Dangers of Dress Past and Present, which was published by Bloomsbury this September. Her research examined how dress harmed its makers and wearers, including garments that transmitted contagious diseases, leached chemical toxins like mercury and arsenic, and caused often lethal accidents, including fire and entanglement. Her current research project, Material Evidence, investigates the history of clothing and crime.