Arnold

Janet (1932-1998). English historian of clothing. After her art studies in Bristol, her hometown, she worked for various English theaters as a consultant in historical costumes. She then worked as a commercial model maker in London, first for Frederick Starke and then for Victor Stiebel. Again in London, she taught the history of costume in the theatre. Her meticulous research on the cutting and constructiion of historical garments were published to noteworthy success. The handbook series Patterns of Fashion, with its precise and easy-to-follow drawings, is indispensable for costume designers and historians. Among her most important studies was the reconstruction of the garments belonging to Cosmo I and Eleanor of Toledo from a series of fragments found in the Medici tombs in Florence. In England she became the authority on the wardrobe of Queen Elizabeth I thanks to her research published in the 1988 book Queen Elisabeth’s Wardrobe Unlock’d. In the decade before her death she was invited to give lectures all over the world. The Victoria and Albert Museum dedicated a retrospective to her in 1998-1999.