Honorary Committee

- Cristina Acidini (Soprintendente Speciale per il patrimonio Storico, Artistico e Etnoantropologico e per il Polo Museale della Città di Firenze)
- Cristina Aschengreen Piacenti (Soprintendente Museo Stibbert and President of the Association Friends of the Galleria del Costume)
- Grazietta Butazzi (Costume and Fashion Historian, Italy)
- Paolo Del Bianco (President of the Romualdo Del Bianco Foundation)
- Santina M. Levey (Textile and Dress Historian, UK)
- Bruno Santi, Soprintendente, Opificio delle Pietre Dure 


Scientific Committee Members

- Janet Cox-Rearick (Graduate Centre, City University of New York)
- Carlotta Del Bianco (Romualdo Del Bianco Foundation, Florence)
- Maria Hayward (Textile Conservation Centre, University of Southampton)
- Roberta Orsi Landini (Independent Textile and Costume Historian, Florence)
- Joanna Marschner (Historic Royal Palaces, Kensington Palace, London)
- Susan North (Victoria and Albert Museum, London)
- Jenny Tiramani (Independent Theatre Designer/Dress Historian, London)
- Rosalia Varoli-Piazza (ICCROM, Rome)
- Mary Westerman Bulgarella (Independent Textile and Costume Conservator, Florence)


Biographies of Scientific Committee Members

Janet Cox-Rearick: Art Historian, Graduate Center, City University of New York

Janet Cox-Rearick has had a long career in the arts--first in museum work, then in teaching--and is presently Distinguished Professor emerita, History of Art, The Graduate School, City University of New York. She has received numerous awards and honours, most recently being named Chevalier de l’Ordre des arts at des letters of the French Republic. Her publications include books on the paintings and drawings of 16th-century Italian artists Jacopo da Pontormo (1981, 1989), Agnolo Bronzino (1993), and Giulio Romano (1999); the patronage of  the  Medici in Florence and astrology in Medici art (1984), and French Renaissance art (Italian artists in France and the School of Fontainebleau, 1995). In the field of Renaissance dress, she has specialized in Italian court attire, lecturing and giving papers at conferences of the Renaissance Society of America (2000, 2004, 2005), organizing a costume session at the RSA (2004), and curating an exhibition of reconstructions of court dress (New York, 2004). She has also published articles on Florentine and French court dress (1982, 2004, 2007, in press) and is working on a book, Bronzino and Eleonora di Toledo: Portraiture and Costume at the Medici Court. 

Carlotta Del Bianco: Founder Fellow and Board Member, Romualdo Del Bianco Foundation, Florence

Carlotta Del Bianco is Founder Fellow and Board member of the Romualdo Del Bianco Foundation in Florence. Her interests in costume stem from her university research on theatrical costume of Edward Gordon Craig XIX-XX century British set and costume designer, before receiving her University degree she collaborated with the Stibbert Museum reordering the costume collection and after she worked on the cataloguing of the photographic archive of the Medici Burial Clothes. Her interests lays particular in promoting occasions for the international and intercultural exchange among specialists and students in artistic and cultural fields.

Maria Hayward: Head of Studies and Research, Textile Conservation Centre, University of Southampton; Assistant Editor – Costume, the journal of the Costume Society, London

Maria Hayward graduated with a history degree before undertaking the post graduate diploma in textile conservation at the Textile Conservation Centre, Hampton Court Palace (TCC). After working as a conservator and completing a PhD in History at the London School of Economics, she is currently a Reader and Head of Studies and Research at the TCC, University of Southampton. She was the Director of the AHRC Research Centre for Textile Conservation and Textile Studies (2004-07) which was based at the TCC. She was involved, with Dr Lesley Miller and Alison Carter, in the organisation of the 2004 conference, Textile Cultures: Spain and England since 1500, and  with Dr Elizabeth Kramer the 2006 conference, Textiles and Text: Re-establishing the Links Between Archival and Object-Based Research.  In 2004 she was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and joined the editorial board of Studies in Conservation, the journal of the International Institute for the Conservation of Artistic and Historic Works (IIC). She is also Assistant Editor of Costume. Her publications include The 1542 Inventory of Whitehall: The Palace and Its Keeper (2004), Tapestry Conservation: Principles and Practice, edited with Frances Lennard (2005), and Dress at the Court of Henry VIII (2007). She is a member of the Research Advisory Panel for Hampton Court Palace.

Roberta Orsi Landini: Independent Textile and Costume Historian, Florence

Roberta Orsi Landini, textile and costume scholar, has worked for over 20 years on the textile and costume collections at the Pitti Palace in Florence.  She is author of numerous articles, essays and books and has collaborated with an array of public institutions and museums in Italy and abroad.  From the onset of the Galleria del Costume in 1983 she has collaborated on several projects, exhibitions and publications, among which Moda alla corte dei Medici, on the conserved Medici burial clothes and I principi bambini, on court infant clothing. For the Stibbert Museum she conceived and curated the exhibition and catalogue entitled L’abito per il corpo. Il corpo per l’abito, which confronted western and Islamic dress. Roberta instigated and oversaw for many years the didactic activities of the Fondazione Arte della Seta Lisio in Florence. Her most recent book publication, Moda a Firenze 1540-1580: lo stile di Eleonora di Toledo e la sua influenza, is a culmination of her meticulous and accurate detailed dress research on archival documents and coeval imagery.

Joanna Marschner: Costume Historian and Curator, Historic Royal Palaces, Kensington Palace, London

Joanna Marschner is senior curator Historic Royal Palaces in the UK and has special responsibility for the collections of royal and ceremonial dress at Kensington Place.  Joanna studied history and history of art as an undergraduate, and museology at postgraduate level. Her PhD thesis was on the subject of royal collecting and connoisseurship in early 18th century Britain. She is author of several publications including ‘Splendour at Court. Dressing for Royal Occasions since 1700’, ‘The Royal Wedding Dresses’ and ‘Diana, princess of Wales. Fashion and Style”, and has written articles on subjects ranging from fashion history and social history, to interior design and museology.  She has been chair of the Dress and Textiles Network for museum curators in the UK and chair of the Costume Committee of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) 2001-2007.  She is now working on a major project to transform the visitor experience of Kensington Palace and its collections.

Susan North: Costume Curator, Victoria and Albert Museum and Vice Chairman of the Costume Society, London

Susan North has worked at the V&A for twelve years and is currently Curator of 17th & 18th century Fashion in the Furniture, Textiles & Fashion department.  She co-authored Historical Fashion in Detail: the 17th & 18th centuries with Avril Hart in 1998 and Style & Splendour: The Wardrobe of Queen Maud of Norway, with Anne Kjellberg in 2005.  At the V&A Susan has organised the temporary displays Patterns of Fashion in honour of Janet Arnold in 1999, Papiers à la mode - Paper Fashions in 2000 and Style & Splendour: Queen Maud of Norway’s Wardrobe 1896-1938, in 2005. She has an MA in the History of Dress from the Courtauld Institute and an undergraduate degree in Art History.  Prior to becoming a dress historian, Susan worked for seven years at the National Archives of Canada and two years at the National Gallery of Canada.  Susan's passion is material culture: surviving garments and the fascinating lives they have led.

Jenny Tiramani: Independent Theatre Designer/Dress Historian, London

Jenny Tiramani, internationally acclaimed costume and stage designer, teacher and writer, was Director of Theatre Design at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre from its opening in 1997 until 2005. In 2003 she received the ‘Laurence Olivier Award for Best Costume Design’ for the all-male Globe production of Twelfth Night and in 2007 she was the co-recipient of the ‘Sam Wanamaker Award’ for her contribution to Shakespeare. Many of her theatre designs have been produced in the UK and abroad. Jenny is presently teaching costume design and construction at the Wimbledon School of Art in London. During her professional career she has given papers at conferences for a variety of prestigious schools, museums and institutions, among which are The National Portrait Gallery, the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Society of British Theatre Designers. Her publications include articles in COSTUME, the journal of the Costume Society, and she is currently preparing Janet Arnold’s book, Patterns of Fashion; The cut and construction of linen shirts, smocks, neckwear, headwear & accessories for men and women c.1540-1660 for publication in 2008.

Rosalia Varoli-Piazza: Senior Conservation Adviser, ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property) and Art Historian Coordinator at Istituto Centrale per il Restauro, Rome.

After receiving her degree in History of Fine Arts and Master’s degree in Art and Art History, Rosalia Varoli-Piazza entered the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and was assigned to the Istituto Centrale del Restauro (ICR) in Rome.  Here she taught courses on the theory of restoration as well as art history for the “Conservator-Restorers’ Training Course”.  While at ICR she instigated and co-ordinate numerous projects, among them the international pilot project of the ‘minimal opening’ of the 13th century imperial sarcophagus of Frederic II in the Cathedral of Palermo, and the conservation of Raphael's frescoes of the "Loggia di Psiche" (1516-19), in Villa Farnesina, Rome. Since 2002 Rosalia is Senior Program Coordinator at ICCROM where she organized and conducted the courses on “Sharing Conservation Decisions”, and collaborated on the forums “Living Religious Heritage-Conserving the Sacred” (Rome) and “Privatization and Cultural Heritage” (Catania). Rosalia represents ICCROM at meetings, conferences, committees and carries out an array of technical missions. Her work focuses on the identification and elaboration of methods and tools for a continuous investigation of the worldwide state of conservation. She is responsible for the liaisons between conservation institutions, universities and official conservation authorities in Italy and abroad. Rosalia is an active member of ICOM-CC, C.I.E.T.A. and a Fellow of IIC.

Mary Westerman Bulgarella: Independent Textile and Costume Conservator, Florence

After obtaining a Bachelor degree in Art History and a Master’s degree in Conservation of Artistic Works, Mary Westerman Bulgarella trained in the conservation of textiles and costumes at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Canadian Conservation Institute. Her work focuses not only on interventions but also on the problems pertaining to the research of materials and methods of storage and display. She helped set up the Galleria del Costume and the textile and costume laboratory at the Pitti Palace where she worked for over 20 years. There she joined forces with the team of international experts in the conservation of the Medici burial clothes from 1983 to1993.  She has collaborated with an array of museums and institutions in Italy and abroad and has published many articles on conservation related subjects. At the present she is freelance consulting on conservation projects as well as working with the Stibbert Museum on all aspects of their textile and costume collection.