BROADCASTING | Amber Butchart

"a fashion show with a difference" - TV Times / "stylish journey through history" - The Guardian Guide

Amber's six-part series A Stitch in Time (BBC Four) fused biography, art and the history of fashion to explore the lives of historical figures through the clothes they wore, including the Black Prince, Dido Belle, Marie Antoinette, and the Arnolfini portrait. Alongside Amber, historical tailor Ninya Mikhaila and her team recreated key garments using original techniques. It was described as "snappy and engaging" by The Guardian, "hugely enjoyable" by The Telegraph and "mesmerising" by the Radio Times. Following the success of the series, all six recreated costumes were put on display in an exhibition at Ham House in Richmond.

A Stitch in Time was selected numerous times as Pick of the Day in The Guardian, in the Critics’ Choice section of the Sunday Times and The Telegraph, and in the Highlights of the TV Times. It featured in the Radio Times’ Choices every week that it aired. View clips from the series here, and it's available to watch globally on Amazon Prime.

"A Stitch in Time... offered the radical spectacle of groups of women standing around sharing their deep knowledge of history and treating fashion as a serious subject that could shed light on the past." - The i Paper

Civilisations Stories: The First Refugees, BBC One and BBC Four

Part of the landmark Civilisations strand on the BBC, Civilisations Stories explored regional history, art, science & innovation. Amber presented Civilisations Stories: The First Refugees about the journey and legacy of the Huguenot silk weavers of Spitalfields.

From Rags to Riches: BBC Radio 4

This two-part documentary tracked the rise of vintage clothing, looking at the transition from second-hand to ‘vintage’, and how our attitude to used clothing changed over a century and more. It also tracked the global ramifications of our cast-off clothes, travelling from charity shops to sorting warehouses in Leeds and the markets and tailors of Dakar, Senegal.

In Stitches: BBC Radio 4

Amber presented the Radio 4 documentary In Stitches, which looked at radical embroidery artists and the ability of stitch to explore hidden histories, political messages and untold stories.

Historic Make Up Tutorials: English Heritage YouTube Channel

Fashion historian Amber Butchart and makeup artist Rebecca Butterworth hosted a series of historic makeup tutorials for English Heritage, from Roman Britons through to the Wrens of the Second World War. Discover how to recreate iconic looks at home, and find out what cosmetics can reveal about some of history's most fascinating periods.

Fashioned Podcast: Audible

Hosts Clara Amfo and Amber Butchart uncover the history of fashion, from the Middle Ages to the 20th Century, told through literature and music. This series looks at the legacy fashion has left us, from rules that still regulate dress around gender and class, to its influence on feminism, civil rights, and the environment.

Goodwood Festival of Speed

When Goodwood Revival and Goodwood Festival of Speed went online in 2020, Amber was invited to present a series of videos looking at the relationship between fashion and cars in the 1940s, 50s and 60s.

Amber researches and presents documentaries for TV, radio and online. Outside of her own presenting, Amber has contributed to productions for all terrestrial UK TV channels, as well as Sky Arts, BBC Radio 1, 2, 3, 4, 5Live & 6Music, and productions for the USA (PBS), Canada (Slice), and Japan (NHK). Amber is the history consultant and regular on-screen historian for BBC One's Great British Sewing Bee, and a regular on Radio 4's Woman’s Hour, Front Row and Saturday Review. From discussing slogan T-shirts and political dressing for Radio 4's Word of Mouth to adding the colour mauve to the Museum of Curiosity, Amber is regularly called on to share her expertise and to entertain with stories from our sartorial past.