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Fashion, Society, and the First World War

International Perspectives

Maude Bass-Krueger editor Hayley Edwards-Dujardin editor Sophie Kurkdjian editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Published:17th Nov '22

Should be back in stock very soon

Fashion, Society, and the First World War cover

This book is the first of its kind to study the impact that the Great War had on fashion, the fashion industry and civilians in a transnational context.

This book can be read through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. It is funded by Knowledge Unlatched.

The historiography of the Great War has been significantly renewed in recent years; yet, despite its crucial social, economic, and cultural importance, the role that fashion played in shaping wartime experiences and economies on an international scale between 1914 and 1918 has largely gone unaddressed. Fashion, Society, and the First World War fills this gap by offering a comprehensive analysis of the impact of the war on the ways that the fashion industry functioned in a global wartime economy, as well as on the ways that women and men negotiated this new world.

With an international, thematic approach, and illustrated in full color throughout, this volume discusses the reconfiguration of the fashion industry, wartime style and production, and the reframing of selfhood, gender roles, and national identity through visual, print and material culture. Through analysis of archives, visual chronicles, press, and garments, and covering an impressive range of topics, from the feathered showgirl in Paris to the evolution of pilots' uniforms, these exciting essays show how fashion, even temporarily, encouraged the articulation of an identity, a society, and a nation.

Fashion, Society, and the First World War provides an extensive overview by leading fashion historians on an industry in the midst of major transformation and is both an invaluable guide and starting point for all researchers, curators, and students interested in fashion history and the cultural history of the period.

A coherent, fresh and fascinating study by an impressive, international group of researchers … Because of its international base, the high quality of the research manifested by its 19 contributors, and the sensitive structure set in pace by its editors, this book marks another important step in the current positive and exciting development in dress and fashion history publications. * Lou Taylor, University of Brighton, UK *
This innovative book reveals how the global war altered not only the business of fashion on an international scale but also had a strong impact on personal dress practices. It splendidly shows how fashion became a powerful symbol of nationalism and played an important role concerning social norms including gender and class relationship. * Adelheid Rasche, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Germany *
A long overdue transnational exploration of the business and beauty of fashion during the Great War, covering diverse aspects of wartime clothing industry, artistry and identity through absorbing scholarship and impactful illustrations. * Lucy Adlington, author of Great War Fashion: Tales from the History Wardrobe and Stitches in Time *

ISBN: 9781350231177

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

352 pages