Talking Threads is about the herstories and hidden tales of Scottish music and fashion from medieval textiles and fashion to post-industrial and contemporary practices. The project is ongoing due to huge interest, and we are still collecting stories for more projects to come from this. Read on to uncover our work and share each other’s stories and send us yours.

An initial pilot exhibition as part of Scotland’s Year of Stories was hosted, suitably, in the former Coats Viyella shop from 16th to Sunday 20th November at Dundee’s Overgate Shopping Centre’s community Gather Space up on Level 1, with outlying displays within V&A Dundee in their Shop during the Scottish Fashion Festival 2022.

Coats-Viyella was a late 20th Century popular clothing brand, established from the original Coats thread business from Paisley, whose history in weaving, lace and cotton predates the famous shawls. Both still going independently, the brand’s retreat from on street premises eventually formed part of the paradigm shift in Scottish fashion and textiles which began from the 1980’s onwards. With The Herald quoting that the industry was losing 500 jobs a week in March 1999, in 2020 updated figures showed nearly 30,000 employed in the Scottish sector, with a whole army of freelancers and sole traders on top of that, contributing more than £2.8 billion to the economy (Fashion Roundtable/ONS).

The exhibition strand was supported by the Year of Stories 2022 Community Stories Fund. This fund was being delivered in partnership between VisitScotland and Museums Galleries Scotland with support from National Lottery Heritage Fund thanks to National Lottery players.