Jane Mulvagh is an Irish-born journalist and social historian, specialising in British history. She is best known for her history of

Madresfield Court Madresfield Court is a country house in Malvern, Worcestershire, England. The home of the Lygon family for nearly six centuries, it has never been sold and has passed only by inheritance since the 12th century; a line of unbroken family ownersh ...

, the English country house upon which

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires '' Decl ...

based his novel ''

Brideshead Revisited ''Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder'' is a novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. It follows, from the 1920s to the early 1940s, the life and romances of the protagonist Charles ...

''.

Early life and career

Mulvagh has Irish roots and was educated at an English convent before going up to

Girton College, Cambridge Girton College is one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college in Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college statu ...

, to read History. Her early interest in fashion history led to eight years at ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'', as a fashion historian and features writer. Mulvagh completed the ''Vogue History of Twentieth Century Fashion'' (

Viking Penguin Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquire ...

) in 1988. She left ''Vogue'' the following year and subsequently wrote a regular column in the ''Financial Times'' entitled "Me and my Wardrobe" and a monthly think-piece on style for that title.

Later career

From February 1990 Mulvagh was a presenter and reporter for British Satellite Broadcasting, known as BSB, during its inaugural year. Working on the evening news and magazine show ''First Edition'', Mulvagh produced three 7-minute pieces per week. She has made TV appearances on the BBC, Granada, RTE Dublin and BBC Radio 4. Mulvagh has written on the history of design, art and social history for many British and American broadsheets, including ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'', ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'', ''

The Art Newspaper ''The Art Newspaper'' is a monthly print publication, with daily updates online, founded in 1990 and based in London and New York City. It covers news of the visual arts as they are affected by international politics and economics, developments ...

'', ''

The Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after bei ...

'', '' The European'', ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', ''

The Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publishe ...

'', and magazines such as Very Magazine, ''

Town & Country Magazine ''Town & Country'', formerly the ''Home Journal'' and ''The National Press'', is a monthly American lifestyle magazine. It is the oldest continually published general interest magazine in the United States. History Early history The magazine w ...

'', '' Harper's Bazaar'' (''Harpers & Queen''), '' The European'', ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'' and ''

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...

''. She contributed over 40 Obituaries for ''

''.

Teaching and lecturing

From 1997 to 2002 Mulvagh taught an MA course in Fashion Journalism and Criticism at

Central St Martins Central Saint Martins is a public tertiary art school in London, England. It is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. It offers full-time courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and a variety of sho ...

School of Art, now part of

UAL UAL or ual may refer to: Education * University of the Arts London, a public research university in London, UK * Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa, a private university in Lisbon, Portugal * University of Action Learning, a unaccredited online un ...

. Her pupils included ''Financial Times'' fashion editor and stylist, Damian Foxe, Editor-in-Chief of Condé Nast online Abigail Chisman, and contemporary art gallerist Libby Sellers. Mulvagh delivered the thirteenth Annual Soane Lecture, on 13 November 2008, at

Sir John Soane's Museum Sir John Soane's Museum is a house museum, located next to Lincoln's Inn Fields in Holborn, London, which was formerly the home of neo-classical architect, John Soane. It holds many drawings and architectural models of Soane's projects, and ...

in London and

The Royal Oak Foundation The Royal Oak Foundation is an alliance of American citizens supporting the mission of the National Trust of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, which is Britain's largest heritage organisation. The foundation is headquartered in New York City ...

Annual Lecture Tour in the United States in 2009. She has lectured at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...

(

Harris Manchester College Harris Manchester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It was founded in Warrington in 1757 as a college for Unitarian students and moved to Oxford in 1893. It became a full college of th ...

Cheltenham Literature Festival ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'' Cheltenham Literature Festival, a large-scale international festival of literature held every year in October in the English spa town of Cheltenham, and part of Cheltenham Festivals: also responsible for t ...

and the Oxford Literary Festival.

Published works

*''Madresfield: The Real Brideshead'', Transworld, (2008) , *''Vivienne Westwood, An Unfashionable Life'',

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News ...

, (1998) *''Newport Houses'', Rizzoli USA (1989) ASIN B01A1M6KUA - an architectural history of

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...

USA *''Costume Jewellery in Vogue'',

Thames and Hudson Thames & Hudson (sometimes T&H for brevity) is a publisher of illustrated books in all visually creative categories: art, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and the performing arts. It also publishes books on archaeology, history, ...

(1988) *''The Vogue History of Twentieth Century Fashion'',

, London (1988)

References

External links

Official websitePortrait of Jane Mulvagh by Lucinda Douglas-MenziesHarper Collins Publishers, AustraliaRandom House Publisher, Australia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mulvagh, Jane Living people Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge British women historians British Roman Catholics English journalists Alumni of Central Saint Martins English fashion journalists Year of birth missing (living people)