Interdisciplinary Research, centred primarily in Dress History, Theatre History and Material Culture. Specialist in historic Theatre Costume, particularly from the nineteenth and early twentieth century.

Dr Veronica Isaac is a Senior Lecturer in Fashion and Design History in the School of Humanities. She has a background in the museum sector and worked for the Department of Theatre and Performance at the Victoria and Albert Museum for over ten years. She has also carried out freelance projects with museums and private collections around Britain and lectures widely.

Alongside her teaching for the University of Brighton she leads the MA in Costume at Wimbledon School of Art. She also works as a curatorial consultant and freelance writer.

An interdisciplinary dress historian, her BA was in English Literature and History whilst her MA focused on Museum and Gallery Studies with a specialist pathway in Historic Textiles and Dress. In September 2016 she completed a PhD thesis investigating the personal and theatrical dress of the actress Ellen Terry (1847-1928).

Her particular specialism is the history of dress and theatre costume from the late 18th century to the mid-20th century and she is committed to promoting further academic research into the History of Costume for Performance.

Her work focuses on the role of costumes as carriers of meaning and memories and is founded on direct engagement with surviving garments and related material culture. Her on-going research showcases the important insights stage costumes can offer into the social, cultural and artistic values of the audiences for which they were originally created.

She is currently writing a new sartorial biography of nineteenth century actress Dame Ellen Terry (1847-1928), which highlights the central role her personal and theatrical wardrobe played in a wider process of 'self-fashioning'. 

She is also working with Dr Jade Halbert on the AHRC Funded project "Constructing Costume Histories:Illuminating the Value and Heritage of Making Costume in Britain' in collaboration with the Royal Opera House, Cosprop Film Costumiers, The School of Historial Dress, Leeds Playhouse and the MA Costume course at Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts.

Veronica welcomes enquiries for doctoral research relating to dress, costume and textile history. She is particularly interested in supervising projects connected with: costume for performance; the history of collecting; the relationship between clothing and the body; the material culture of dress, textiles and costume and interrogating the role dress can play as an expression of individual or shared identity.