Dr Kathryn Brownbridge

Senior Lecturer, Fashion Design

Biography Research Office

Academic and professional qualifications

PhD -(MMU) completed in 2012 - The development of a Conceptual Model for Anthropometric Practicies and Applications Regarding Complete Garment Technologies for the UK Women’s Knitwear Industry

MSc - (MMU) Completed 2002 - Fashion Product Development with focus on 3D technology and virtual made to measure systems

BA Fashion Design and Textiles (Leeds University) Completed in 1995 -

Previous Employment

Formally, I was an active member of UK’s independent fashion design community, as creative managing director of womenswear brand, Heyday Clothing. The Heyday business was vertically integrated and included a design studio, manufacturing unit and retail units in Manchester and London. In 2001, Keen to develop my interest in innovative practice and the utilisation of new technologies within the fashion industry, I joined MMU and completed an MSc. I was then asked to contribute to a small enterprise team who were developing automated fashion made-to-measure software using 3D body scanning technology.

Prizes and awards

Undergraduate teaching

Fashion Cultures on L6 Fashion Design and Technology and Fashion Promotion programmes

Postgraduate teaching

Fashion Bodies MA Fashion Design Technology.

A course that aims to challenge assumptions, redefine fashion industry models and create innovative solutions for specific end users. Human centric design is at the core of the unit. Design provocations will demonstrate how design can create fashion futures that apply both technology and consider commercial needs, providing innovative user-focused fashion products and ranges

External examiner roles

I am currently the external examiner for the BA Fashion design course at Leeds Becket University

Postgraduate research supervision

Current PhD supervision

Ruth Eaton - The digital pocket: The written pocket seen through online written commentary.

Zoe Jeffrey - Girls subjective experiences of physical education from a clothing perspective.

Jayne Mechan - The Phygital Body as Fashion Practice: interplay of the torso, technologies and embodied fashion practice

Completed PhD supervision

2020 - Philippa Jackson - The development of Clothing concepts in response to analysis of gendered social attitudes

2019 - Sophie Wood - Treasured Garments: Exploring Value in the Wardrobe

2018 - Nabil El Nayal - The disruptive designer: Elizabethan dress meets contemporary sportswear technology

2017 - Paula Wren - Female gerontology (aged 55+) and its effect on anthropometric landmarking definitions required for body measurement extraction and garment pattern development

Press and media appearances or contributions

I am a regular contributor to BBC radio and have been interviewed as an expert in fashion sizing, garment fit, keeping unworn garments and many other fashion related subjects for:

Womens’s hour BBC R4

You and Yours BBC R4

A variety of local radio stations.

Research

Research Interests

Research interests include how information is used within technologically dynamic fashion design and the product development processes, including: the use of body measurement within the 3D development of complete garment knitwear, the influence of beauty ideals on design, development and the consumer and the application of colour information within fashion design.

Current collaborative projects include:

Exploring the use of the body scanner as an intervention tool for body image with professor Sarah Grogan (MMU), Dr Chris Armitage (UoM), Simeon Gill (UoM).
The use of idealised proportional bodies within design with Ruth Sanderson (MMU) Simeon Gill (UoM).
Identifying factors that contribute to the development of automated 3D pattern generation using scan data and 3D softwear with professor Susan Ashdown (Cornell University) and Simeon Gill (UoM).
The development of customised dress forms from scan data with Simeon Gill (UoM), Steve Hayes (MMU) and Katherine Downey (UoM).

Exhibitions

Housley, G., Brownbridge, K., McCarthy, J., 2018. Dress: an exhibition about clothes and why we wear them, The Horsfall, 22/3/2018 - 24/3/2018.

Books

Brownbridge, K.M., 2015. 'Seamless Knitting and Its Application', CRC Press/Taylor & Francis Group.

Book Chapters

Brownbridge, K.M., Gill, S., 2015. 'The myth of standard sizing'. In, Inter-disciplinary.net.

Brownbridge, K., 2015. 'Seamless Knitting and Its Application'. In Materials and Technology for Sportswear and Performance Apparel, pp. 231-244.

Journal Articles

Grogan, S., Gill, S., Brownbridge, K., McChesney, G., Wren, P., Cole, J., Darby, J., Jones, C., Armitage, C.J., 2021. 'Body Mass Index and Body Satisfaction: Does Availability of Well-fitting Clothes Matter?', Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 39 (4), pp. 251-263.

Parker, C.J., Hayes, S.G., Brownbridge, K., Gill, S., 2021. 'Assessing the female figure identification technique’s reliability as a body shape classification system', Ergonomics: an international journal of research and practice in human factors and ergonomics, 64 (8), pp. 1035-1051.

Grogan, S., Storey, E., Brownbridge, K., Gill, S., Templeton, C., Gill, J., Persson, S., Armitage, C.J., 2020. 'Whole body scanning as a tool for clothing sizing: Effects on women’s body satisfaction', Journal of the Textile Institute, 111 (6), pp. 862-868.

Grogan, S., O'Brien, D., Brownbridge, K., Gill, S., Cole, J., Armitage, C., 2019. '“I didn’t realise I was such a sausage”: Men’s Accounts of Whole-body Scanning, Body Image, and Expected Changes in Health-related Behaviours', Psychology and Health, 34 (5), pp. 550-568.

Brownbridge, K., Gill, S., Grogan, S., Kilgariff, S., Whalley, A., 2018. 'Fashion misfit: women's dissatisfaction and its implications', Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management, 22 (3), pp. 438-452.

Grogan, S., Siddique, M.A., Gill, S., Brownbridge, K., Storey, E., Armitage, C.J., 2017. '‘I think a little bit of a kick is sometimes what you need’: Women’s Accounts of Whole-body Scanning and Likely Impact on Health-related Behaviours', Psychology and Health, 32 (9), pp. 1037-1054.

Grogan, S., Gill, S., Brownbridge, K., Warnock, D., Armitage, C.J., 2015. 'Women’s Long-Term Reactions to Whole-Body Scanning: A Mixed Methods Approach', Clothing and Textiles Research Journal, 34.

Grogan, S., Gill, S., Brownbridge, K., Kilgariff, S., Whalley, A., 2013. 'Dress fit and body image: A thematic analysis of women’s accounts during and after trying on dresses', Body image.

Conference Papers

Gill, S., Brownbridge, K., PANCHENKO, A., Hayes, S., Wren, P., 2014. 'Practical Considerations of Applying Body Scanning as a Teaching and Research Tool', 5th International Conference on 3D Body Scanning Technologies, Lugano, Switzerland, 21/10/2014 - 22/10/2014, in Proceedings: 3DBODY.TECH2014, pp. 259-268.

Gill, S., Wren, P., Hayes, S., Brownbridge, K., 2014. 'Practical Considerations of Applying Body Scanning as a Teaching and Research Tool', the 5th International Conference on 3D Body Scanning Technologies, Lugano, Switzerland, October 2014, Lugano, Switzerland.

Hayes, S.G., Gill, S., Parker, C.J., Brownbridge, K., Wren, P., Panchenko, A., 2014. 'The True Height of the Waist: Explorations of Automated Body Scanner Waist Definitions of the TC2 Scanner', 5th International Conference on 3D Body Scanning Technologies, Lugano, Switzerland, 21/10/2014 - 22/10/2014, in 5th International Conference on 3D Body Scanning Technologies, pp. 55-65.

Brownbridge, K.M., Sanderson, R., Gill, S., 2014. 'Aspirational bodies: fashioning new beauty ideals'.

Gill, S., Brownbridge, K.M., 2013. 'The Myth of Standard Sizing', 15/9/2013 - 17/9/2013.

Brownbridge, K.M., 2013. 'Fashioning Knitwear: Case studies in 3D Conceptualisation', 27/1/2014 - 31/1/2014, in Fashioninf Knitwear: Case studies in 3D Conceptualisation.

Brownbridge, K.M., Gill, S., Ashdown, S., 2013. 'Effectiveness of 3D Scanning in Establishing Sideseam Placement for Pattern Design'.

Brownbridge, K.M., Power, E.J., 2010. 'Anthropometric Practices and the Complete Knitted Garment', 3/11/2010 - 4/11/2010.

Theses and Dissertations

Brownbridge, K.M., 2012. 'Development of a Conceptual Model for Anthropometric Practices and Applications Regarding Complete Garment Technologies for the UK Women's Knitwear Industry'.

Office Location

Room C2.30
Cavendish South
Manchester Fashion Institute
Manchester Metropolitan University
Cavendish Street
Manchester M15 6BG