Whales and 'whalebone' in fashion

An astonishing number of materials have been used to create fashion, many of which are drawn from the animal kingdom. To learn more about some of them, we worked with colleagues at London’s Natural History Museum, exploring materials from very different sources – whales and jewel beetles – and their use in fashion. Beetle curator Max Barclay shares specimens from his collection and talks about why jewel beetles were so popular for decorating dress, their vivid colour and how they were collected. Find out more: https://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/fashioned-from-nature