Dr Hannah Rumball-Croft
Dr Hannah Rumball-Croft is a Senior Lecturer in Cultural Studies across undergraduate and post graduate Fashion courses. Her research specialisms centre on nineteenth‑ and early twentieth‑century women’s dress and material culture, with particular expertise in two intersecting areas: the development of tailored garments for women, and the evolution, regulation and fashionable adaptation of Quaker Plain dress. Her work brings together dress history, religious studies, gender studies and material culture. She sits on the committees of two international research networks, Nineteenth Century Dress and Textiles Reframed, and ACORSO Tailoring for Women 1750 – 1930 reflecting her active contribution to shaping current scholarly conversations on historical dress, craftsmanship and gendered clothing practices.
Dr Hannah Rumball‑Croft completed her PhD in material culture, dress history and Quakerism at the University of Brighton in 2016. Her doctoral project, conceived independently following an AHRC‑funded Masters by Research at Kingston University, examined the prescriptive frameworks of Quaker dress and their negotiation within broader fashion systems. The originality of her proposal was strengthened through consultation with academics at the Royal College of Art, Kingston University and the University of Brighton, as well as independent scholars, demonstrating her collaborative approach and the cross‑disciplinary relevance of her work. Her project was accepted by both the RCA and the University of Brighton, with Brighton awarding her a fully‑funded doctoral scholarship.
Alongside her academic research, Dr Hannah Rumball‑Croft has contributed to the development and installation of exhibitions for institutions including the National Trust, the William Morris Gallery, Regency Town House, and the Serpentine Gallery. This experience underscores her commitment to public engagement and the translation of historical dress scholarship into accessible, visually compelling forms.
Her teaching integrates historical knowledge, critical theory and industry awareness, supporting emerging designers in understanding how cultural, social and political forces shape dress practices, both past and present.
She is currently working with the EU Research body Groupement D’intéret Scientifique Apparences, Corps & Sociétés (ACORSO) on Fashionable Tailoring for Women 1750-1930 on a material culture comparative study of the design, manufacture, retailing and consumption of tailored garments for and by women, at all market levels in the 1750-1930 period. Her specialism for this group is the development of a tailored, waterproof, overcoat style named the Ladies Ulster from 1871 and it’s inventor, the Belfast tailor John Getty McGee. Her first article on the research “The Ladies Ulster in the 1870s and 1880s: From “Eccentric-Looking” to “Beau Ideal”” (2023) was published in Textile: the journal of cloth and culture, and has signed a book contract for an edited collection on Fashionable Tailoring for Women 1800-1930 with Bloomsbury.
Her work on a religious style of dress worn by British Quaker’s, known as Plain dress, and its ultimate relinquishment for fashionable styles during the nineteenth century, has been pursued since her PhD (2016) which was supervised by Professor Lou Taylor at University of Brighton. Her work examines how religious sentiment can be married with fashionable sensibilities, and how this manifested in the wardrobe choices of five case studied women, whose wardrobes survive to this day. Her articles on the subject include “Visibility and Invisibility: Helen Priestman Bright Clark and the struggle for the Position of Women in the Society of Friends, 1873” (2016) Critical Studies, “British Quaker Women's Fashionable Adaptation of their Plain Dress, 1860–1914” (2018) Costume, and her book chapter “Chapter 11: ‘We Must Hope That the Moderates with Their Quiet Attire Are the Rising Section’: British Women Friends’ Relinquishment of Plain Dress” (2023) in Quaker Women 1800 – 1920.