Jane Shepherd

Jane Shepherd is a fashion designer, lecturer and writer on popular music culture and is currently Senior Lecturer in fashion at the University.

Jane graduated with a first class honours degree in fashion from Central Saint Martins in 1991, receiving critical acclaim for her conceptual collection that defied convention and challenged preconceptions as to the nature of a fashion catwalk presentation.

Her reputation as a radical thinker and fashion maverick was further reinforced with the launch of her own label in 1993. Her unique approach to product broke away from established fashion norms by considering media projections as integral to the design concept, launching several collections garnering a significant international press profile and awarded a prestigious showcase window at Browns, South Molton Street for London Fashion Week A/W95.

In 1996 she was appointed as resident womenswear design tutor on the MA Fashion at Central Saint Martins, a position she has now held continuously for over twenty years, currently as Pathway Leader for Womenswear and Menswear. Alongside this she has taught extensively at undergraduate level at numerous institutions including Westminster, Ravensbourne, Winchester School of Art and Chelsea College of Art & Design before joining the University of Brighton in 2005. Additionally she has acted as External Examiner for fashion programmes at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Having established herself as a leading figure in the fashion industry during the 1990s, Jane published a book in 2012 about legendary sixties band The Action in collaboration with Ian Hebditch and original band members, Michael Evans and Roger Powell. Jointly responsible for concept and creative direction, with sole responsibility for all aspects of research and design, the book provides a definitive account of the band together with a re-evaluation of the original mid-sixties Mod youth subculture. Contributions from major industry figures included Sir George Martin, Phil Collins, Peter Banks, Pete Townshend and Nick Jones.

In parallel to the book, Jane established The Action & Mighty Baby Archive in 2006, a comprehensive collection of rare recordings, photographs, memorabilia, press and ephemera relating predominantly to the Action and Mighty Baby, but also covering subsequent offshoots involving original personnel. Spanning nearly five decades, this extensive body of archive material has taken over fifteen years to compile and she continues to act as consultant / contributor on various Action related projects and new releases.