About this website

The bulk of this website was created in 1997. It was never meant to be a scholarly resource nor for academic study, but was instead aimed at anyone with an interest in late 17th century clothing. Do bear in mind that at the time when the pages were written - 1997 and earlier - the author's English language skills were not yet bilingual. This website moved to its current host in 1999. Happy 10 year anniversary, Positive Internet, what a brilliant and recommendable company.

The main content of the website will not be updated nor changed, but remain available on the web.

About the author

Nicole gives public talks (at an assortment of venues, such as the Costume Society of Scotland and Scottish Embroidery Guild charters) and lectures (such as for Heriot-Watt University's School of Textiles) on topics of 17th century clothing and customs. She is available as a public speaker, and here is more information on how to book Nicole for a talk on late 17th century clothing history.

Regarding her academic background, Nicole Kipar obtained her Magistra Artium (M.A.) degree from the Faculty of Arts and Humanities in English Historical Linguistics, English Literature and Political Economics at RWTH Aachen (Aachen University of Technology, Germany) in 1995. She started teaching as a postgraduate assistant in the English Literature Department at Aachen University and moved on to manage Aachen University of Technology's Interdisciplinary IT Forum for four years, followed by three years experience as Quality Manager in the private sector both in Germany and the UK.

Nicole moved to the UK in 2000, where she worked at Canterbury Christ Church University, and has been working at Heriot-Watt University since early 2006 as the Flexible Leaning Co-ordinator. She runs a Flexible Learning Programme which is built upon current Learning and Teaching Theory and Practice, combining a scholarly approach to Flexible Learning with the practical exploration of learning and teaching opportunities. She is also the module leader for a module on "Designing Online Learning Environments" which explores flexible learning.

Her professional research interests are group work and learner motivation in virtual worlds.