The Culture of Fashion: A New History of Fashionable Dress (Studies in Design and Material Culture) - Hardcover

Breward, Christopher

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0719041244 ISBN 13: 9780719041242

Publisher: Manchester University Press, 1995

Synopsis

This illustrated survey of 600 years of fashion investigates its cultural and social meanings from medieval Europe to 20th-century America. It provides a guide to the changes in style and taste, and challenges existing fashion histories, showing that clothes have always played a pivotal role in defining a sense of identity and society, especially when concerned with sexual and body politics. With a chronological structure, each chapter focuses on both male and female fashion of a specific period, covering its fascinating developments. It discusses: andrognous dressing; body piercing; fabrics, clothing and the rise of city life; dress, and the changing shape of the human body; controversies surrounding trousers and leg wear for both men and women; exposure of flesh; fashion and social status; and the dissemination of fashion through travel, film, magazines and catwalk shows.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

This major illustrated survey of 600 years of fashion investigation its cultural and social meanings from medieval Europe to twentieth-century America. Breward's ground breaking work provides the reader with a clear guide to the changes in style and taste and shows that clothes have always played a pivotal role in defining a sense of identity and society, especially when concerned with sexual and body politics.

About this edition

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0719041244
• ISBN 13: 9780719041242
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 272