Nylon: The Manmade Fashion Revolution - Hardcover

Handley, Susannah

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0747534454 ISBN 13: 9780747534457

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, 1999

Synopsis

The story of synthetics in fashion, beginning with Courtauld's "ArtSilk" and taking in DuPont's invention of nylon in the late thirties and the advent of rayon, crimplene and lycra. The part played by fashion houses is discussed, along with the rise of the Japanese couturiers.

About this title

Review

An acquaintance once believed the chorus of an early Madonna hit to be "I'm gonna dress you up in nylon", an error that caused much merriment. And therein lies the rub, so to speak, for a fabric that passed from the test tube to the bargain bucket via the Moon (the USA flag planted by Buzz Aldrin was made of nylon) in its yo- yoing 60-year rags-to-riches-to-rags existence. Hailed as the liberator of the housewife, the alchemy that spawned nylon, as well as rayon, dacron, polyester and its other synthetic siblings, produced a democratisation in fashion that revolutionised the post-war world, tailored as it was to meet the baby boom of the 1950s and1960s, and its so-called "Peacock Revolution". Eventually, the hubris of its proliferation gave way to a disdainful disregard as the world turned an arc and spurned cheap, gaudy materials in favour of more "natural", organic fabrics. But the die had been cast for designers and from the early 1980s onward man-made fibres have dominated haute couture, from Jean-Paul Gaultier to Rei Kawakubo, as well as the street, with the advent of Lycra.

Susannah Handley's lively account wisely keeps its sparks from its main subject (early man-made clothing was seriously liable to catch fire) and stretches out in its more general sub-title. Her choices of illustrative plates are superb throughout and particularly complement the early history and advertising of man-made products, led by the giants "Du Pont" and "Courtaulds", who moved from gunpowder to lingerie--the same raw ingredients--as times changed. Descriptions of early debates about the application of science echo current controversies over genetically modified foodstuffs but then the conflict between science and the environment can be said to have dominated and shaped a century simultaneously fascinated and repulsed by technological potential. Handley, a writer, lecturer and consultant on textile matters, knows her Crimplene from her Terylene and while handling the chemistry with a stylish aplomb, thirstily anticipates a future that is looking to reject outer space for cyber space design. Lustrous, seamless and as desirable as nylon stockings to the 50s. --David Vincent

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0747534454
• ISBN 13: 9780747534457
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192