Kate Sekules

Cultural and dress historian Kate Sekules researches and teaches mending as both an academic field and practical skill. A former journalist, she brings the history, theory and practice of textile mending to diverse audiences through lectures, courses, journal and symposium papers, clinics, events, media appearances, and exhibitions. Sekules holds a doctorate in material culture, design history and decorative arts (Bard Graduate Center) and an MA in costume studies (NYU), and, as well as Fashion History at Pratt, teaches her new course “Mending Fashion” at Parsons School of Design (BA) and BGC (MA). Her book MEND! A Refashioning Manual and Manifesto was published by Penguin in 2020, with another, Mending, A Hidden History, based on her PhD dissertation, under preparation.

MEND! A Refashioning Manual and Manifesto

Fashion Theory: Optics of Obvious Mending

Winterthur Portfolio: The One Important Science of Embroidery The American Stocking Darn 1830 to 1930 as Historical Document

Costume Society of America: Dialogues on Dress: Kate Sekules