Casci’s obsession with fashion started when she watched The Big Sleep for the first time as a teenager. She was completely in awe of Lauren Bacall and longed to recreate the houndstooth tailored suit and beret she wore on-screen. Luckily her mum, who used to wear vintage in the 1980s, encouraged her to rummage around charity shops and take up a college night course to learn how to sew. By the time she was ready to apply for university, there was no question about it, she was going to study fashion. This great love has stayed throughout her personal and academic life.
She holds a BA Hons in Fashion Design, an MA in Fashion Body Wear and most recently graduated from Glasgow University with an MLitt in Dress and Textile Histories in November 2016. Her dissertation explored the impact of Hollywood cinema on the fashion choices of Glaswegian women during the 1940s. She has continued to develop her passion for twentieth-century fashion from creation to consumption with a particular interest in Hollywood costume, consumer culture, subcultures and the relationship between popular culture and fashion with a particular interest in the musician Prince
Casci has been a dedicated fan of His Royal Badness ever since she heard Peach blast from her Dad’s Ford Mondeo speakers as a little girl. Since then she’s proudly sported a raspberry beret (just like the one you find in a second-hand store). She presented her paper at the first academic Prince conference, Purple Reign at Salford University in May 2017 and has presented her Prince research all across the UK, Europe and Minneapolis, Prince’s home city. Her chapter focusing on Prince and the trench coat will be published in the upcoming book, Prince in Popular Music: Critical Perspectives in June 2020.
She has years of voluntary experience in both creative and heritage roles for such as Agent Provocateur, Museum of Edinburgh, Tenement House and Hippodrome Cinema. The past few years she has worked as Conference Organiser and as an Ambassador within the Costume Society. She also hosts a film club Backseat Bingo in Glasgow, screening cult films with killer style.
Casci has appeared in several regional and national BBC radio shows offering insight into fashion history and popular culture.
Casci Ritchie 