JGSGB Chilterns RG: Anna Nyburg on “The Clothes on our backs: how refugees from Nazism revitalised the British fashion trade”

This event has already finished
Mar
22
Tue

Jews had long been active in the clothing trade in Europe, excelling in design and production. However, in the UK, clothes production was mostly conservative and design was not a concept. After 1933, many Jews found asylum in Britain and British companies started to recognise what the refugees could offer including Pringle of Scotland who hired an Austrian refugee designer, who thought up the twinset which became a huge commercial success and Kangol, who made berets for the British Army. The refugees brought new technology, new display methods and a different attitude to export and much more. These refugee clothiers were recognised as having made a disproportionate contribution to the economy. Many were later honoured for their contribution to the fashion industry and several became patrons to the arts and philanthropists. Anna Nyburg tells their stories.  

Event finished
Via Zoom®
Tue 22nd Mar 2022
7:30pm GMT
120 mins