BBC Radio 4 Documentary: 'When Women Wore the Trousers'
White Line Projects collaborated with BBC Radio 4 producer to conceive a documentary entitled 'When Women Wore the Trousers', aired 9th June 2017. In this documentary, presenter Laura Barton explores the little known story of a pioneering group of women who unknowingly challenged conventional notions of femininity and their working roles. The pit brow lasses worked within the collieries of 19th century Wigan, Lancashire. Their unique re-appropriation of men's 'breeches' worn underneath hitched up skirts was originally adopted as a functional response to working within mines. With readings from the actor Maxine Peak, a discussion with Pit Brow Lass, Rita Culshaw about her choice of clothing in the pits and interviews with fashion curators Amy de la Haye and White Line Project's own Fiona McKay and Wigan historian Alan Davies, as well as fashion designers Faye Toogood and chef Angela Hartnett, the documentary discovers how women have worn trousers as a means of empowerment and the enduring appeal of work-wear in contemporary fashion. This documentary is available until June next year as a podcast, you can listen to it online or download it here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08spk82
image credit: courtesy of Toogood