Penelope Byrde was born in 1948 and read Modern History at St Andrews University before specialising in the history of dress for her MA from the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London. She was a curator at the Museum of Costume & Fashion Research Centre in Bath for almost thirty years until her retirement. Penelope has written several books on the history of fashion including: The Male Image. Men’s Fashions in Britain 1300-1970; A Visual History of Costume: The Twentieth Century; and Nineteenth Century Fashion.