Bernadette Banner (born ) is an American

YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...

and author currently based in London.

Education and previous career

Banner studied in the Design and Production Studio at

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...

. Prior to graduation, she briefly worked as a costume assistant for

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

, as well as for a parody preview video of the Broadway musical '' Frozen''. After that, she did an internship for

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

-winning costume designer Jenny Tiramani at the School of Historical Dress in London.

Interests

Banner began her YouTube channel on garment construction in 2018. She is known for her interest in and promotion of historical dress reconstruction and study of a range of historical fashion periods from the early

Medieval era In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, with a primary focus on the

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

and

Edwardian In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...

eras. She has focused on the lack of quality in modern

fast fashion Fast fashion is the business model of replicating recent catwalk trends and High fashion, high-fashion designs, mass production, mass-producing them at a low cost, and bringing them to retail quickly while demand is at its highest. The term ''fast ...

. She is also known for sewing in Original Practice, the art of crafting clothes using historically informed methods and materials. A significant area investigated by Banner has been the accuracy in reproductions of historical clothing, for example in films like ''Little Women'' (2019) and ''Beauty and the Beast'' (2017). In addition, she has also been featured by Glamour as commentary for an analysis of ''Mary Poppins''' dressing.

On fast fashion

On her channel, Banner is an active spokesperson against the

industry, highlighting its environmental devastation and poor labor practices as reason for people to do what they can to abstain from buying clothes from such brands. In place of consuming fast fashion products, Banner has described her own move towards limiting her number of wardrobe pieces to sustainable and long-lasting garments, many of which she has created herself. In 2019, a 15th-century-inspired gown Banner made was poorly copied and sold by an online merchant using Banner's photo in the sales listing. Banner bought the dress and made a public video in which she criticized its poor construction.

Writings

In 2022, she authored a non-fiction book, ''Make, Sew and Mend'', published by Page Street Publishing. It was a

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trade paperback bestseller for the third week of May 2022.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Banner, Bernadette Living people 1990s births American expatriates in England Fashion historians Fashion YouTubers