Dress Behind Bars - Prison Clothes as Criminality

Guest lecturer Juliet Ash gave Chelsea College of Art Textiles students a talk on 
criminality in prison clothing. 



This project examined prison dress in both an historical and contemporary context and within the prison film genre. Its primary focus was in the UK and the USA while it also considered related global practices, particularly within the context of late 20th and early 21st centuries. There have been numerous academic studies of prison life and history, but this is the first publication which focuses exclusively on prison dress. This invisibility or visibility of prisoners has dominated prison history from the 18th century to the present. Prison dress provides an arena for the discussion of both the individual and the institution in relation to politics, gender and race.