Dress codes : how the laws of fashion made history Cover Image

Book

Dress codes : how the laws of fashion made history / Richard Thompson Ford.

Ford, Richard T. (Richard Thompson), (author.).

Summary:

A law professor and cultural critic offers an eye-opening exploration of the laws of fashion throughout history, from the middle ages to the present day, examining the canons, mores and customs of clothing rules that we often take for granted.

Record details

ISBN: 9781501180064
ISBN: 1501180061
Physical Description: xi, 443 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm
Edition: First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition.
Publisher: New York : Simon & Schuster, 2021.
Copyright: ©2021

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 415-420) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Historical milestones and important dress codes -- Introduction -- Status symbols. Encoding status ; Self-fashioning ; Signs of faith ; Sex symbols -- From opulence to elegance. The great masculine renunciation ; Style and status ; Sex and simplicity ; The "rational dress" movement ; Flapper feminism -- Power dressing. Slaves to fashion? ; From rags to resistance ; Sagging and subordination -- Politics and personality. How to dress like a woman ; Recoding gender ; Piercing the veil -- Retailored expectations. Merit badges ; Artifice and appropriation -- Conclusion: Decoding dress codes -- Epilogue: Dress codes stripped bare.