Dress the history of fashion is a production of iHeartRadio.

Over 8 billion people in the world, we all have one thing in common.

Every day, we all get dressed.

Welcome to Dress the history of fashion.

A podcast where we explore the who-let-land of why we wear.

We are fashion historians and your hosts, April Callahan and Cassidy Zachary.

Today's guest has said, quote,

every object has the potential to tell many stories.

Whether we make, collect, customize, or consume an object,

it becomes invested with meanings through association and usage.

So the question becomes, do we make things or do our things make us?

In quote, love that.

And it's a really fitting question coming from someone who has forged a three-decade long career

dedicated to exploring the storytelling capabilities of clothing.

Today we're joined by artist designer and master storyteller, Dr. Christine Chikinska,

who is the senior curator, Africa and diaspora, textiles and fashion at London's Victorian

Albert Museum. And the first person to ever hold that title cast,

it was apparently inaugurated just in 2020.

Yeah, in April, I actually very distinctively remember when Christine was appointed to this

position because she was interviewed by Vanessa Friedman for her article

on the incredible whiteness of the museum fashion collection for the New York Times.

And that article addressed the hierarchies and inequalities inherent in fashion museum

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