Awarded annually to a student whose final project / dissertation deals with an aspect of the history of dress.
The Costume Society is commemorating the work of the dress historian and former Chair of The Society, Doreen Yarwood (1918-1999), with a grant of up to £500 and a one-year membership. The grant is aimed at helping an MA student engaged in high quality research into the history of dress and/or textiles with expenditure relating to the completion of their dissertation. Please note that the grant is not intended to help with the overall cost of the degree but with particular expenses for items such as travel to a library, archive or collection, subsistence while away and archive reproduction fees. If you are unsure whether you are eligible, please email us after reading the following sections.
Applicants have to be enrolled in an MA course at a UK institution.
The history of dress and/or textiles has to be central to their research topic.
Our next deadline is 31st May 2025. Please submit your application by email putting Yarwood Research Grant Application into the subject header:
1. short CV (not more than one A4 page)
2. summary of your research topic and how the award would contribute to achieve your aims (up to 500 words)
3. outline budget in GB£ sterling (not more than one A4 page) - please be as specific as possible
4. We also need a supporting statement from your course tutor, which should be sent by email by 31st May 2025.
1. Originality of subject and rigour of research – we are looking for students tackling new subjects and/or approaching their topic from a new angle, using new sources and/or methodologies.
2. The difference the grant would make to the outcome of your research.
3. Viability of the budget.
4. Supporting statement.
If you have been successful, you will be informed of our decision by the end of June and a cheque made out in GB£ will be sent to you by the middle of July. Please note that only the successful applicant(s) will be notified. You will receive a one-year membership of the Costume Society for the year of your application.
What happens after submission?
After handing in your dissertation you will have to submit a short (500 word) summary of how the award has helped you achieve your goal with several high quality images (without copyright restrictions). This will feature in the Costume Society's media and publications.
More on the history of the award:
The Yarwood Award was first established in 2000 to support important research into costume by non-professional, or by retired professionals, using the resources of the collections, libraries and archives in the UK.
The first Yarwood Award was made to Jude Swann MBE in 2001, a former Chair of the Costume Society (1980-87) who was working on a dictionary of shoe and shoemaking terms. The dictionary contained over 760 terms, each one broadly defined with dated evidence and changes in use over time. This project was first compiled on Amstrad 8000 and needed to be transferred to Word 97 which our grant enabled. Since then, we have given many grants thanks to Doreen Yarwood's generous bequest, and the award name and focus has changed slightly over the years.
