I wrote about Toronto fashion history since 1867 for FORWARD Magazine, a new glossy edited by Ugyen Wangmo. For this Canada 150 sesquicentennial feature, I sourced vintage and archival images from the 19th and 20th centuries — in the process rediscovering some forgotten Karsh portraits of the couturière Madame Martha. Even in the time of…
City File: Bodega
Short commissioned piece about Bodega, a vintage boutique and pop-up space, for the Holiday issue of Hamilton Magazine. Hamilton Magazine (est. 1978) is published by Town Media, a division of Postmedia. Photo: Matt D’Alvise at OB OBrien’s studio. Hamilton Magazine | browse issue | read article
Remembering Hervé Léger
I wrote a brief tribute to Hervé Léger, creator of the bandage dress, for FASHION magazine. Published monthly by St. Joseph Media, FASHION (est. 1977) is one of Canada’s leading glossies. FASHION | read article
Our Chitinous Skin
chitinous \ˈkī-tᵊn-əs: of the substance making up the exoskeletons of invertebrates (from Greek chiton, tunic) I edited the comic Our Chitinous Skin, a supernatural romance that puts the love back in Lovecraft. Graphic novel chapbook by Ian Daffern; illustrated by Rachel Idzerda with lettering by Ted Rouse (2015). IanDaffern.ca
PatternVault
The PatternVault blog provides rich, illustrated posts on the history of designer fashion through DIY culture. “Pattern Vault breaks the mold again and again.” – Designer Marcy Tilton Key posts on: • Vogue patterns for Givenchy designs by Alexander McQueen and John Galliano • Rare commercial patterns for designs by Madeleine Vionnet, Yves Saint Laurent,…
Feasts for the Eyes: Visuality and Desire in the Ulster Cycle
Essay on gender and visuality in three sagas of the Ulster cycle. First presented at Kalamazoo, May 2006. Published in Constructing Gender in Medieval Ireland, ed. Sarah Sheehan and Ann Dooley (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). Illustration: Bob Pepper cover art for Evangeline Walton’s Island of the Mighty.
Constructing Gender in Medieval Ireland
A ground-breaking collection of nine original essays for Palgrave’s New Middle Ages series, co-edited with Ann Dooley (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). From the jacket: “This book is a groundbreaking re-reading of gender construction in Medieval Ireland. Despite Ireland’s unique early literature, there has been little produced on this topic, and it is a joy to find…
Loving Medb
Review essay examining past critical perspectives on Queen Medb, a character in the early Irish Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle-Raid of Cooley). Published in Gablánach in Scélaigecht: Celtic Studies in Honour of Ann Dooley, ed. Sarah Sheehan, Joanne Findon, and Westley Follett (Four Courts Press, 2013). Image: Barry Reynolds, from Colmán Ó Raghallaigh’s An Táin.
Gablánach in Scélaigecht: Celtic Studies in Honour of Ann Dooley
A collection of sixteen original essays celebrating the career of Professor Emerita Ann Dooley of the University of Toronto’s Centre for Medieval Studies and Celtic Studies Program. Co-edited with Joanne Findon and Westley Follett. Published by Four Courts Press, Dublin (2013). Frontispiece portrait: John Reeves† From the jacket: This book celebrates the career of Ann…
Losing Face: Heroic Discourse and Inscription in Flesh in Scéla Mucce Meic Dathó
Essay on heroes, masculinity, and the body in the early Irish saga The Story of Mac Dathó’s Pig. First presented at Victoria College, University of Toronto in March 2006. A revised version appears in my thesis. Published in The Ends of the Body: Identity and Community in Medieval Culture, ed. Suzanne Conklin Akbari and Jill…
Matrilineal Subjects: Ambiguity, Bodies, and Metamorphosis in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi
Essay on “Math son of Mathonwy,” the Fourth Branch of the medieval Welsh Mabinogi. First presented in David Townsend’s Theory seminar at the Centre for Medieval Studies, spring 2004. Published in the top-tier feminist journal Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society (2009). One of three finalists for the 2007 Catharine Stimpson Prize for…
Fer Diad De-Flowered: Homoerotics and Masculinity in Comrac Fir Diad
Short essay on heroic violence and homoeroticism in the Fer Diad episode of the early Irish Táin Bó Cúailnge. Published in Ulidia 2: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on the Ulster Cycle of Tales, National University of Ireland Maynooth, 24–27 June 2005, ed. Ruairí Ó hUiginn and Brian Ó Catháin (An Sagart, 2009). Image:…
