'Clothes from our past shape who we are, and who we will be. Why do we hold on to certain garments and what do they tell us and others about our lives?'

Join us for a live conversation with author, Mark C. O'Flaherty, a design journalist and photographer based in London and New York, whose recently published book, 'Narrative Thread: Conversations on Fashion Collections' explores our relationship to fashion. 

O'Flaherty will be joined by arts journalist, curator, artist, DJ, and friend, Pippa Brooks, who will facilitate a discussion that draws connections between O'Flaherty's own work and the collection, providing an eye-opening look at fashion's past and present, and its continuing importance in our lives.

The conversation will be followed by a Q&A and opportunity to purchase the book.

Your hosts

Mark C. O'Flaherty has been a design journalist and photographer based in both London and New York for over 20 years. Before that he was a DJ, music photographer, visual installation artist in nightclubs and show producer at London Fashion Week. He is a regular contributor to the Financial Times, HTSI, New York Times and Sunday Times, and has shot for Issey Miyake, Hermès, Knoll, Nobu and numerous international editions of AD, Elle Décor, and World of Interiors.

Pippa Brooks is a curator, DJ, writer, and co-owner of antique showroom/contemporary art gallery, London's M.Goldstein. In the 90s/00s, her cult boutique, Shop, brought a NYC East Village feel to Soho and had it's own label, Shop Girl...also one of the names of Pippa's pop band. Brooks is obsessed with the intersection of art, fashion, music, and shining a light on her counterculture heroes. 

To celebrate his most recent book, join us for a conversation about British theatre with Michael Billington, the longest-serving theatre critic in Britain until his retirement in 2019, and fellow Member of the National Gallery. 

In 'Affair of the Heart: British Theatre from 1992 to 2020', Billington chronicles a rich, authoritative insight into British theatre over the last three decades. 

The conversation will be followed by a Q&A and opportunity to purchase the book.

Your host

Michael Billington is a theatre critic and has written several biographies of well-known playwrights. Having worked as a director for Lincoln Theatre Company in the 1960s, he was employed by The Times newspaper as a theatre critic in 1965, before joining the Guardian in 1971. He was appointed Office of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to the theatre. His books include 'The 101 Greatest Plays: From Antiquity to the Present' (2016), 'State of the Nation: British Theatre Since 1945' (2009) and 'Harold Pinter' (2007).