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Emily Brayshaw

@dr_costume1

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#Costume, #fashion, #dress, #knitting, #design, #historian, #PhD, #violist. A lovingly #curated #compendium of #kitsch. @footwearresearchnetwork

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The Social Lives of Shoes has been nominated for a Signal Award for Thought Leadership!

Just the nomination alone is a wonderful acknowledgement of our hard work and a huge boost as we work on the second series, but a win would help us immensely. If you value what we do, please vote for us and share widely with your networks!

Link in the @footwearresearchnetwork bio

#sociallivesofshoes @dr_costume1 @sherlock_alexandra @penniejagiello @rmituniversity by @dr_costume1

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EQUUS 2026 🐴

@benjamin.brockman @danielcottierproductions @kxt_bakehouse

Super grateful to be apart of this production and to work alongside such an incredible team 🫶 taken in KXT bAKEHOUSE by @dr_costume1

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London water bottle filling station. Ermmmm by @dr_costume1

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What a privilege it was to sit down and talk with retired celebrity reporter Fran Weinstein, whose memoir ‘Tortured Soles: High Heels, Low Expectations and the Hollywood Gossip Mill’ tells the story of a remarkable career through her collection of more than 200 designer shoes.

Fran's stories from the red carpet open into a deep conversation about femininity across the life course, the ethics of the gossip industry, women's rights, the mental health toll of living our lives on show, and how our shoes carry our memories.

Head to the @footwearresearchnetwork website to see lots more of Fran’s shoes and the stories and memories behind them.

This is the final episode of our current series. Thank you so much for listening. Emily and Alex will be back in the new year with lots more fascinating perspectives on shoes.

If you have enjoyed this series and want to support independent content, please donate to our GoFundMe (link in bio). Your support will help us become a registered social enterprise, build a financially sustainable future, and deliver many more valuable insights, projects and research.

Have a listen, link in bio.

#SocialLivesOfShoes #FootwearResearchNetwork #ShoesAndIdentity #CelebrityCulture #Podcast @dr_costume1 @sherlock_alexandra @franweinstein by @dr_costume1

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I love working on the costumes for Equus. The confronting themes have meant some emotional impacts for me while working to support the actors through costume. Sometimes you gotta treat yourself. Come to see our incredible work! Tickets @danielcottierproductions by @dr_costume1

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by @dr_costume1

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Another valuable contribution for the @footwearresearchnetwork by Dr Emily Brayshaw (@dr_costume1 ), this time exploring a shipwreck dress, knitted trainers and the stories our materials carry.

Emily traces how researchers at @aaltouniversity turned 300 year old wood from a sunken 17th century ship into yarn and knitted it into a dress, then asks what that means for footwear.

From @santoni_seamless 3D knitting machines to @veja recycled polyester uppers and @ecco x @spinnova_fibre recycled leather waste, and even a sneaker knitted from dog fur, she looks at how knitting has become one of the most exciting spaces in sustainable footwear design, and why knowing the real biography of our materials might be more powerful than any recycling claim.

We’d love to see a shipwreck shoe. What stories do your shoes’ materials tell?

Read the full article, link in bio. by @dr_costume1

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New episode of #TheSocialLivesOfShoes:
More Stitches, Less Riches: Reconnecting with Our Shoes, Each Other and the Planet with Wendy Ward @thatwendyward

We’ve known about fashion’s waste problem for decades, and strategies to address it have mostly involved guilt and shame. Wendy Ward, a PhD candidate at @sheffhallamuni , takes a completely different approach. Her practice-based research, Enduring Fashion, encourages people to spend time with the items they wear. From wardrobe audits, break-up letters to garments, and ink prints taken from clothes headed for the bin, to drawings and rubbings of garments, and a French knot for every wear (three years and counting).

What comes out of these enjoyable activities isn’t obligation. It’s attachment, pride and community. People arrive at her workshops with garments they thought were worthless and leave realising what those clothes mean to them.

Why this matters for footwear: the @fashionforgood Closing the Footwear Loop report found that 24% of shoes that owners classified as non-rewearable had no physical damage. They were simply unpaired, dirty, or unsellable. That’s a problem of attention and attachment, not materials. Wendy’s methods speak directly to this issue, and for brands, they point towards experience, community, and storytelling as valuable commercial territory as we shift to alternative models of value and a return to the heart of what fashion is all about - expressing yourself and finding your tribe.

It was such a pleasure to speak with Wendy about what her research might mean for footwear, a category still lagging in sustainability discussions.

Full episode, transcript, images, chapters and links at the @footwearresearchnetwork

🔗 in bio
Images courtesy of @thatwendyward

@thatwendyward @fashionforgood @sheffhallamuni @this.is.not.a.shoe @dr_costume1 @sherlock_alexandra @penniejagiello

#bravenewworld #stitchesnotriches #FootwearResearchNetwork #ThisIsNotAShoe by @dr_costume1

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In today’s shoe coup, these mint-condition Gucci pretties came home with me. They were only $45. by @dr_costume1

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Material literacy is what allowed me to identify this jacket as high quality lambs leather and wool, even before I inspected it closely. It also means I know how to replace one missing press stud, which is likely why this beautiful navy, Armani jacket found its way to the op shop before coming home with me. It cost $25. by @dr_costume1

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