Caribbean Couture Dressmaking
An autobiographical and practice-based analysis of Caribbean female dressmakers, their work, working practices and intergenerational knowledge, from the 1950s to the present day.
Researcher: Joy Alison Prime
Institution: University of the Arts London, London College of Fashion
Research: Practice-based PhD
Status: Thesis submitted September 2026; awaiting viva examination
1. Research Overview
This doctoral research investigates the work, knowledge and cultural contributions of Caribbean female couture dressmakers, examining how their skills and practices have developed, travelled and been transmitted across generations.
Situated within British and Caribbean dress history, material culture and identity, the research responds to the limited recognition afforded to Caribbean women dressmakers within established fashion histories and institutional archives.
Drawing upon my own experience as a Caribbean couturier, educator and researcher, the study places women's making practices, professional knowledge and lived experiences at the centre of historical and cultural inquiry.
2. A Five-Generation Dressmaking Heritage
The research is rooted in five generations of dressmakers within my maternal family, beginning in nineteenth-century Trinidad and continuing through migration to Britain.
Central to the study is the dressmaking practice of my mother, Sylvia Prime-Holder, whose knowledge, skills and experiences provide an important connection between earlier generations and my own professional practice.
This intergenerational perspective offers an opportunity to examine how dressmaking knowledge has been acquired, adapted and sustained through family relationships, informal learning and professional experience.
3. Research Approach
The study brings together autobiographical reflection, oral testimony, material culture analysis and practice-based research.
Its methods include conversations with Caribbean dressmakers and industry practitioners, examination of garments and photographs, collaborative making, technical reconstruction and reflection upon inherited dressmaking knowledge.
Making is approached not simply as the production of garments, but as a means of investigating technical knowledge, cultural practices and the relationships between materials, memory and identity.
4. Research Significance
The research seeks to contribute to a broader understanding of Caribbean couture dressmaking as a significant form of creative, technical and cultural practice.
It examines the relationships between dress, migration, identity, intergenerational knowledge and women's professional lives.
The study also considers how dressmaking knowledge preserved through family and community practices can contribute to fashion history, education, heritage interpretation and the development of more inclusive archives.
5. Research Development and Future Engagement
The thesis was submitted to the University of the Arts London in September 2026 and is awaiting viva examination.
Following examination, I intend to develop opportunities for publication, exhibitions, heritage research and collaborative projects that make Caribbean women's dressmaking histories more accessible to wider audiences.
I welcome enquiries concerning research collaboration, cultural heritage projects, exhibitions, educational initiatives and speaking engagements.
Research status: Submitted doctoral thesis, September 2026. Examination and award pending.