Join us for "Emblems of Power: Dressing Elizabeth I," a presentation by Jane Lawson, editor of the book "The Elizabethan New Year’s Gift Exchanges, 1559–1603."

When Elizabeth I ascended the English throne in 1558, she established her credibility as a monarch and her image as a sovereign queen through portraiture, in which she was often depicted with multiple symbols of power and references to mythology.

In this presentation, Lawson will provide an overview of Elizabethan dress and accessories — as recorded in her monograph — and expound on sartorial allegory during the Tudor period.

Rafael Gomes, SCAD director of fashion exhibitions, will introduce Lawson. He will also discuss how several designs in the SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film exhibition "Guo Pei: Couture Beyond" were inspired by European garments, and how the Chinese aristocracy also used symbolism to reflect power and reaffirm legal status.

About the book   

"The Elizabethan New Year’s Gift Exchanges, 1559–1603" (2013) is a transcription of 24 extant vellum rolls which describe the participants, gifts and other details of the Elizabethan New Year’s gift exchange. A culmination of more than 20 years of research, this work is valuable not only for the study of gift-giving, but also for insight into court politics, patterns of consumption and fashion, material culture and economic history of 16th-century England.

About the editor

In addition to editing "The Elizabethan New Year’s Gift Exchanges, 1559–1603," Jane Lawson also coedited "Titled Elizabethans: A Directory of Elizabethan Court, State and Church Officers, 1558–1603" (2014). Other publications include similar subjects, such as the colors of Queen Elizabeth’s wardrobe, books given to the queen and the patronage received in return for those gifts, and personnel in the queen’s privy chamber, including Bess of Hardwick and Lady Mary Cheke.

Lawson received a Master of Librarianship from Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia; a Master of Divinity from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky; and a Bachelor of Arts from Palm Beach Atlantic University, West Palm Beach, Florida.

She currently lives in Atlanta and is the Emory Vaccine Center coordinator.    

This event is free and open to the public.