ALL WORK IS WOMEN’S WORK by Library of Unruly Fashion Practices

with Emma van Meyeren in conversation with Hanka van der Voet and Beau Bertens at 6:30pm

All Work Is Women’s Work uncovers the forgotten story of The Seamstresses’ Union, one of
the first all-female labour unions in the Netherlands, and their radical use of print media to
challenge patriarchal and capitalist systems in the early 20th century. This project delves into
the struggles and triumphs of working-class women who fought for fair wages, dignity, and
autonomy. Through their newspaper, De Naaistersbode (“The Seamstresses’ Courier”), the
union created a vital communication channel that connected women across Amsterdam,
amplifying their voices and fostering solidarity in the face of exploitation.
All Work Is Women’s Work is a feminist intervention into the archives, drawing on Sarah
Ahmed’s assertion that “documentation is a feminist project.” It brings to light the radical
publishing practices of The Seamstresses’ Union, situating them within a broader history of
leftist and anarchist print culture. In a Cixousian act of “writing the body,” the project
reinscribes the seamstresses’ struggle into the present through the body of the text, the
fabric of the city, and the materiality of dress. By mapping key sites of labour activism,
republishing archival materials through XEROXED, a garment publishing platform founded
by Alia Mascia, and providing a sticker to mark these hidden histories in Amsterdam’s urban
landscape, this project reimagines the archive as a space of “active recollection” rather than
a static repository.

All proceeds from the sale of the Library of Unruly Fashion Practices x XEROXED garments
at this launch will be donated to Librarians and Archivists with Palestine.

This project was made possible through the AFK and the Nederlandse Kostuumvereniging.