iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

✨Hello! I’m still open to interviewees if you are able to help! I’m really hoping to understand what queer communities were like in the UK during the 1970s/80s and also the role of fashion within them! ✨ Please feel free to share :)

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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

Yesterday I went to the British Music Experience (one of the only museums in Liverpool I haven’t been to!) for their new Arctic Monkeys exhibition and found a wonderful amount of fashion history too! #arcticmonkeys #rollingstones #Trex #dustyspringfield

Woman stood in front of an oversized image of a newspaper article about the band Arctic Monkeys behind glass in a museum

Photograph of outfits worn by the Rolling Stones including a pink suit and a goat coat

Photographs of outfits worn by the band T-Rex including a suit with sequin stars and feather boa

Photograph of outfits worn by Dusty Springfield’s including a long blue dress with a sparkly decollage and a shorter pink dress covered in beading

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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

I can’t think of a better work set than this! This morning’s reading is also very interesting, looking into how the suit makes the male body ‘impenetrable’, and the suit as a social suit of armour ✨

A laptop, a coffee and a diary on a wooden table

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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 03/01/2026

Forever one of my top four films!

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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 29/12/2025

Christmas gift highlights include a copy of “The Secret Public: A Queer History of Pop” by Jon Savage and a new diary that will keep me organised (and also new coffee to keep me writing!)

Photograph of a coffee an a book with a photo of David Bowie on the page

Photo of a maroon leather diary with a gold bee on

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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 20/12/2025

Last night was my last northern soul night of the year and I ended up on the decks! Northern Soul has become a real passion of mine this year and something that will definitely carry on into the new rear!

Photo of a dimly lit bar that shows a red chesterfield sofa and some dj decks behind it

Photo of a dj deck with a spinning record on it

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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

Hello! I’m seeking volunteers to be interviewed for my PhD thesis on the cultural significance of the tailored suit within queer communities during the 1970s and 1980s. If you’re interested and would like more information, please contact me. Thank you, and feel free to share this with your networks!

A poster with a title that says "Call For Participants." The poster states:

Are you part of the LGBTQIA+ community and have vivid memories from the 1970s and 1980s? We invite you to participate in an exciting project exploring the cultural significance of the tailored suit within the community.

We are looking for volunteers, aged 18 and older, to participate in an exciting project exploring the cultural significance of the tailored suit within the LGBTQIA+ community during the 1970s and 1980s.

This study is open to:
• Individuals who self-identify as queer or belong to the LGBTQIA+ community and were 18+ in the 1970s and 1980s.
• Relatives or close associates of queer individuals from this era, are encouraged to join.

You would be invited to participate in an interview session, either online or in-person. If you choose to come to one in person, they will be held in The Townsend Room, located in the Bishopsgate Institute (230
Bishopsgate, London, EC2M 4QH) or in public spaces such as coffee shops, public libraries, or LJMU classrooms. If you choose to take part virtually, you will be sent a secure link to a Microsoft Teams meeting
which you can join from.

Each session would take about two hours of your time. You would be asked to share your personal stories related to the tailored suit, and ideally, bring a photograph or meaningful clothing item, although this is not required.

If you are interested and would like more information, please reach out to the investigator. There is no obligation to take part. You will receive a gift card as a thank you for your valuable contributions.

Thank you!

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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Great to attend the first look event of the April Ashley collection at @ljmu-sca.bsky.social on Thursday! It was wonderful to see such rich visual and important material. Can’t wait to revisit this as part of my PhD project!

Picture of a piece of paper titled APRIL ASHLEY NEW COLLECTION EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK

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LJMU Special Collections & Archives @ljmu-sca.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

New blog post for the Unity Theatre Archive Project! Over the next year LJMU SCA will be working with the Unity Theatre to catalogue and digitise its archives. If you are interested in volunteering you can apply via the link in this blog. Closes Sunday 19th October. ljmuarchives.blog/2025/10/14/i...

ljmuarchives.blog

Introducing the Unity Theatre Archive Project

Hi everyone, my name is Megan and I’ve recently joined LJMU’s Special Collections and Archives as the Unity Theatre Project Archivist. Over the next year I’ll be cataloguing the papers of the Unity…

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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

Some images from my visit to the Vivienne Westwood exhibition in Liverpool, would highly recommend!

Black knee length tunic dress with silk shirt underneath. The green pattern at the bottom of the dress was done by Keith Haring.

Short black dress with four buttons on the bust and small white ruffles around the neckline.

Men’s navy blue tartan suit with gold buttons and matching flat cap hat.

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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

Whilst on my holiday in Milan, I got to visit the Giorgio Armani Museum, and wow those dresses were dreamy! #fashion #museum #giorgioarmani #armani

Two Armani dresses, one blue and one orange

Extreme close up of embroidery on a dress

1920s, flapper style dress in black with beading

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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 11/07/2025

Unintentionally taken my cat’s LinkedIn headshots this morning

Brown and white Tom Cat stood on grass meowing

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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

Started my research trip this week with a visit to @queerbritain.bsky.social a powerful, thoughtfully curated space. Inspiring and essential, it centres voices too often left out of the national story. The exhibitions offer rich insight into the UK’s LGBTQ+ history, activism, and everyday life.

A leather jacket with badges on. Covered with campaign badges, this jacket 'belongs' to Kate Charlesworth's cartoon character Auntie Studs.

The letter of the founding members of stonewall

Photographs of pride events. These particular look at the support gay communities gave miners in the 1980s.

Photograph of the first gay pride - The UK's first Gay Pride march went from Trafalgar Square to Hyde Park.

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David Desi Pubs Dason @davidjesudason.bsky.social · 30/06/2025

My theory that I can write no matter the circumstance is being tested by brain fog caused by heat

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Letterboxd @letterboxd.social · 29/06/2025

Masculin Féminin (1966)🧡

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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

I have had the most amazing time at my first @batw.bsky.social conference for the last three days! My project, Soulful South Yorkshire: Tracing African American Influence in Rotherham's Northern Soul Movement looked at the transatlantic connection of African American music in the movement #batw2025

Chicken dinner on a white plate with potatoes and broccoli

Woman stood in front of some stairs with red carpet

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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

There is something about being on a train at golden hour that soothes the brain

Photo taken from the inside of a train out of the window showing tracks and countryside as the sun is setting

Photo taken from the inside of a train out of the window showing tracks the sun setting over some houses

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Deirdre O'Shaughnessy @deshocks.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

I might be getting a bit paranoid in my middle age but are the seagulls gone absolutely demented over the past few days or is it just me?

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

more crime in america

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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

Great to attend the ‘Difficult Histories’ conference at the University of Liverpool yesterday, hosted by @livunihss.bsky.social and @ihr.bsky.social. It was great to hear about the many ways to approach history, from oral testimonies and natural specimens, and the opportunities from the IHR! ✨

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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Look at that filing system, this image is my office inspiration photo!

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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 25/05/2025

Been diving deep into Northern Soul lately - a northern subculture with serious style. Seen loads of ads for “baggies”: ultra-wide trousers (think 36-inch hems!) made for spinning on the dancefloor. Yesterday I wore my first pair. Felt like I time-traveled straight back to the ’70s! 🕺✨ #northernsoul

An advert for northern soul clothing including baggies and jackets, found in the New Musical Express, August 31st, 1974

A northern soul suit made by Keith Mallinson, a Rotherham based tailor. The V&A states: Northern Soul was a music style that gave expression in its very own particular fashion. American Soul musicians found a warm welcome in England in the 1970s, especially in the northern cities of Wigan, Wolverhampton and Nottingham. This suit was worn by Soul enthusiast Peter Davies to Samantha’s Soul Club in Sheffield. Keith Mallinson of Rotherham made the suit especially for him. The suit’s high-collared shirt, with four buttons, was worn under the customised jacket. The outfits were modified to accommodate the energetic, sometimes frantic dancing which accompanied the music.

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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 24/04/2025

This week I completed my first solo research trip to London (as someone terrified of public transport this was a personal victory) - I split my time between Bethnal Green, a little trip around Parliament and a fascinating look at The Face exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery

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Dr Amy Fuller @amyfuller.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

At what point are we going to define what a man is?

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Wendy O'Rourke @wendyo.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Ducks are cool.

1970s Image of a woman sitting next to a white duck on a park bench. She's wearing a green dress with a white duck print and green tights.

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Liverpool John Moores University @ljmuofficial.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Liverpool ONE has teamed up with our LJMU Fashion Communication students for a special headwear exhibition on Paradise Street. From flat caps to fascinators, explore Liverpool’s iconic styles through the ages—on display until the end of May. Read more ➡️ www.ljmu.ac.uk/about-us/new...

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eileen chengyin chow @chowleen.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made. -FS Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, published 4/10/1925.

Original 1925 jacket cover of The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby
Here is a novel, glamorous, ironical, compassionate a marvellous fusion into unity of the curious incongruities of the life of the period which reveals a hero like no other one who could live at no other time and in no other place. But he will live as a character, we surmise, as long as the memory of any reader lasts.
"There was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life. ..
It was an
extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again?"
It is the story of this Jay Gatsby who came so mysteriously to West Egg, of his sumptuous er-tertainments, and of his love for Daisy Buchanan a story that ranges from pure lyrical beauty to sheer brutal realism, and is infused with a sense of the strangeness of human circumstance in a heedless universe.
It is a magical, living book, blended of irony, romance, and mysticism.
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
The
GREAT GATSBY
FITZGERALD

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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

This afternoon I have my one year review for PhD - am I nervous? Yes. Have I done as much prep as I can? Yes. Have I had a good breakfast? It's a big yes now! The Anglican cathedral is an underrated spot if you're ever in Liverpool!

A photograph of a breakfast on a white plate, a coffee cup and saucer and a glass bottle of sparkling water. On the plate is eggs benedict with mushrooms added! This is all on a wooden table situated in the sunshine

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Wendy O'Rourke @wendyo.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

Rit Dye (1968)

Rit dye ad featuring a Verner Panton Moon Lamp.
"I didn't buy it-I dyed it! They were black and white curtains I had tired of. So I dyed them Rit® Tangerine in the washer! I glued some of the fabric to the top of several chests, moved them together and put on a glass top. Now it's my own special nook."

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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Had a wonderful time presenting at the @ljmuofficial.bsky.social APSS PGR Conference on Wednesday this week! The theme was on space, and through the case study of Soho, I looked at how important the urban space was to queer communities in the 1970s and 1980s :)

Woman standing behind a podium giving a talk

Woman standing behind a podium giving a talk and pointing at the screen

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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

On Friday I went to two fascinating events - the first a panel on the most current research in decolonisation and the second a book launch for J.P Maxwell and his new historical thriller based in Liverpool! @rilch-ljmu.bsky.social

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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 12/03/2025

Great to attend the Centre for the Study of Crime, Criminalisation and Social Exclusion seminar today! It looked at policing in 1980s London and its relationship with lesbian communities. It was really interesting to listen to a talk adjacent to my topic, but in a completely different field!

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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

This weekend I had the opportunity to visit my home town’s archives in preparation for my Britain and the World Conference paper. Whilst there I also picked up some new skills, like how to handle microfilm!

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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

Little bit of a different exhibition this weekend, but managed to get get across to Leeds to visit the Miffy exhibition, who’s celebrating her 70th birthday! It was wonderful to see some of the original drawings and figures used in the tv series!

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Samantha :) @samanthabarker.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

This has been rather fun, including a visit to @ljmu-sca.bsky.social and a windy trip up the Anglican Cathedral (followed by coffee and cake!) with @ljmudoctoral.bsky.social :)