James Laver

James Laver, CBE, FRSA (14 March 1899 – 3 June 1975) was an English author, critic, art historian, and museum curator who acted as Keeper of Prints, Drawings and Paintings for the Victoria and Albert Museum between 1938 and 1959. He was also an important and pioneering fashion historian described as "the man in England who made the study of costume respectable". Early life James Laver was born in Liverpool, England, on 14 March 1899, the second child and only son of Arthur James Laver, a maritime printer and stationer, and his wife, Florence Mary (née Barker), strict Congregationalists who brought up their children in a puritanical manner. He attended the Liverpool Institute. His academic progress was put on hold by the First World War, in which he served as a second lieutenant. In 1919 he resumed his residency at New College, Oxford, where he earned a BA degree second class in modern history 1921. The next year, he earned a B.Litt in theology for a thesis on John Wesley. His college fees and travel expenses were subsidised by a wealthy shipping magnate, Lawrence Holt. At Oxford, he contributed to the student magazine Isis and won the 1921 Newdigate Prize for his poem on Cervantes. Laver at the Victoria & Albert Museum In 1922, Laver entered the Department of Engraving, Illustration, Design and Painting at the Victoria & Albert Museum where he worked under Martin Hardie. He arrived shortly before the International Theatre Exhibition was transferred to the V&A from Amsterdam and was shown as part of his department. It showcased work by all the leading European designers of the time, and the Museum purchased several designs and models, which became the basis of the Museum's Theatre Collection. Laver was put in charge of this collection. Stage design became one of his passions, possibly in reaction against his upbringing. In 1938 he succeeded Martin Hardie as Keeper of the department, a post he held until his retirement in 1958. Despite his significant contributions to object-centred dress history, he was never Keeper of Textiles for the Museum, or part of the Textiles section.