Ulinka is a professor of early modern history at the University of Cambridge and fellow of the British Academy and St John’s College. Born in Tübingen, she studied history, art history, and sociology in Hamburg and Cambridge. Her award-winning books include The Astronomer & the Witch, Dürer’s Lost Masterpiece and Dressing Up. She has held fellowships in Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin and Harvard and published widely on the reformation and cultural identity.

Ulinka joined global dis:connect as a shared fellow with Historisches Kolleg.

The triumph of fashion: a global history from the Silk Roads to empires of cotton

What role has fashion played through history? How has it shaped societies and influenced how people have expressed their identities? This is one of the most intriguing historical questions. Accelerated forces of economic and technological development — through cities, rural areas and globally — alongside state formation, urbanisation and profound artistic, religious and social transformations intertwined with new forms of knowledge and information, emerging sensibilities, ideas and compelling narratives about what defines a society.