Lesbian fashion historian Eleanor Medhurst has an eye for hidden style. After spending her university years discovering the many untold stories of lesbian fashion throughout history, from Sappho to the suffragettes, she started a blog, Dressing Dykes, to share her work with a rapidly growing readership. In 2024, she released her first book, Unsuitable: A History of Lesbian Fashion, a compelling and meticulously researched journey through centuries of covert and overt dress codes practised by women-­loving women. In this interview, which has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity, Medhurst talks to Griffith Review Editor Carody Culver about the challenges and rewards of unpicking these invisible sartorial stitches.

CARODY CULVER: When and why you did you decide to investigate lesbian fashion from a historical perspective? Was this something you wanted to do when you began university, or did you find yourself drawn to it as your studies progressed?