Dressed for War: Uniform, Civilian Clothing and Trappings 1914-1918

Nina Edwards

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1780767072 ISBN 13: 9781780767079

Publisher: I.B.Tauris, 2014

Men in khaki and grey squatting in the trenches, women at work, gender bending in goggles and overalls over their trousers, a girl at the Paris theatre in pleated, beaded silk, a bangle on her forearm made from copper fuse wire from the Somme. What people wear matters. Copiously illustrated, this book is the story of what people on both sides wore on the front line and on the home front through the seismic years of World War I. Nina Edwards, reveals fresh aspects of the war through the prism of the smallest details of personal dress, of clothes, hair and accessories, both in uniform and civilian wear. She explores how, during a period of extraordinary upheaval and rapid change, a particular preference for a type of razor blade or perfume, say, or the just-so adjustment to the tilt of a hat, offer insights into the individual experience of men, women and children during the course of World War I.

Product Description:

Dressed for War

Review:

'very readable... informative and sometimes surprising'
--Who Do You Think You Are? Magazine

'Edwards is a vivid storyteller and this book is full of fascinating anecdotes.' --Joanna Bourke, Times Literary Supplement