DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

The Culture of Fashion

A New History of Fashionable Dress

Christopher Breward author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Manchester University Press

Published:2nd Mar '95

Should be back in stock very soon

The Culture of Fashion cover

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: androgynous 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.

ISBN: 9780719041259

Dimensions: 240mm x 170mm x 14mm

Weight: 431g

264 pages