Fashion

Fashion week may be over, but these books are timeless.

Posted on March 16, 2023 in Hot Topic

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Brooks, Andrew. Clothing poverty: the hidden world of fast fashion and second-hand clothes. Zed Books, 2015. 288p index ISBN 9781783600687, $95.00; ISBN 9781783600670 pbk, $21.95; ISBN 9781783600694 ebook, contact publisher for price.
Reviewed in CHOICE August 2015

Every once in a while, a book is published that cuts across disciplines and world regions for a refreshing and engaging read.  Such is the case with UK geographer Brooks’s Clothing Poverty.  In 2013, secondhand clothing was a $4.3 billion, 3.9 million-ton trade.  This ambitious book historicizes and connects contemporary, uneven global development through the lens of new clothing design and consumption in rich countries of the “North” and cotton production, low-cost manufacturing labor, and the supply chains of secondhand clothing consumption in poor countries of the “South” (plus vintage and retro recycled clothing in the North).  Brooks focuses on the story of jeans.  A voracious reader and traveling researcher, Brooks (geography, King’s College, London) weaves together the US, UK, Mozambique, Zambia, and New Guinea, among other places, into an integrated analysis, covering donor charities, underdeveloped local garment industry, and China’s growing ascendency as a major manufacturing player and investor.  Although written in an accessible way, Brooks frames book content with sophisticated theoretical explanations of colonial history, unbridled neoliberal capitalist expansion, environmental damage involving chemicals and water waste, and the search for “spatial fixes” of labor and new commodification.  Comparable to Rachel Snyder, Fugitive Denim (2007). Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. —K. Staudt, University of Texas at El Paso

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Bucar, Elizabeth M. Pious fashion: how Muslim women dress. Harvard, 2017. 235p bibl index ISBN 9780674976160, $29.95; ISBN 9780674982376 ebook, contact publisher for price.
Reviewed in CHOICE March 2018

In four information-packed chapters, Bucar (philosophy and religion, Northeastern Univ.) explores personal, community, and state regulation of what women deem pious wear or dress. Much has been written about this subject in academic and popular literature, but Bucar’s approach is quite different. This is a comparative study, and the author engages women in Iran, Indonesia, and Turkey—where there are cultures that are heavily invested in Islamic dress as a statement of societal religious affiliation. That investment is resisted and contested with equal vigor. Women’s accessories reference economic class. Each of these countries has non-Muslim women who are travelers, but Iran especially requires that even visiting women adhere to the dress code. This study is important for a number of reasons, but primarily because there are few truly cross-cultural studies of Muslim women’s dress. Bucar’s much-needed comparative viewpoints will be useful to those interested in women’s and gender studies. Fashion insights from film and theory shed a different light on psychosocial approaches to religious women’s dress. Dress is a communicator of many things, from class to moral belief. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. —A. B. Al-Deen, DePaul University

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Edwards, Lydia. How to read a dress: a guide to changing fashion from the 16th to the 20th century. Bloomsbury, 2017. 211p bibl index ISBN 9781472533272 pbk, $33.95; ISBN 9781474286251 ebook, contact publisher for price.
Reviewed in CHOICE August 2017

This original, accessible take on fashion history is packed with color images, and each example garment annotated with terminology, key elements of the shape and construction, and other details of note. The images are pulled from museum collections around the world, and cover 1550 to 1970. The focus is on women’s dresses in the Western world, and the time is divided into ten stylistic era chapters. In addition to the annotated examples, each chapter begins with a brief essay on the style hallmarks of the period. Most of the examples are images of extant garments, but the first two chapters (1550–1600 and 1610–99) mix in drawings and paintings, since so few gowns survive. The book also includes a glossary and endnotes. One point of weakness is the placement of supplemental images and the lack of figure numbers. The essay text often refers to “this image,” when the image in question is actually on another page (e.g., pp. 22, 34–35, 82, 138). Even so, the book will be a valuable reference for many types of fashion history researchers. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. —C. E. Berg, Museum of History and Industry

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Fashion and politics, ed. by Djurdja Bartlett. Yale, 2019. 239p index ISBN 9780300238860, $45.00.
Reviewed in CHOICE May 2020

Over the past half century global societies have been strongly influenced by political events, and questions have arisen as to whether fashion affects politics or merely reflects it. Incorporating multiple approaches and disciplines (philosophy, history, economics, anthropology, art, and museology), this volume addresses wide-ranging questions about Western capitalism versus Marxism, racism versus elitism, gender versus authoritarianism, the individual body and the body politic (literally and figuratively), uniforms and rituals, terrorism versus traditionalism, power and vulnerability, immigration and exploitation. The book’s cover, which depicts serious pink-pussy-hatted Anglo models walking the catwalk dressed in a variety of woven sports outfits, exemplifies the complexity of the topic. Bartlett (histories and cultures of fashion, London College of Fashion, UK) has been a pioneer in using fashion visuals as a vehicle for studying transnational phenomena.Her past works—for example, FashionEast: The Spectre That Haunted Socialism (CH, Jul’11, 48-6456)—compared aesthetics in capitalistic versus socialistic societies. In the present volume Bartlett brings together multiple scholarly viewpoints to show how powerful fashion really is. Perhaps these global discussions, including those about the significance of fashion, will suggest innovative solutions to social challenges both old and new, challenges that may emanate from imperialistic injustice. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals —B. B. Chico, Regis University

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Geczy, Adam. Fashion and orientalism: dress, textiles and culture from the 17th to the 21st century. Bloomsbury, 2013. 255p ISBN 9781847886002, $100.00; ISBN 9781847885999 pbk, $29.95; ISBN 9780857854278 ebook, $30.99.
Reviewed in CHOICE December 2013

Building on Edward Said’s seminal work exposing ethnocentric biases in works by Western writers when treating the Orient, Geczy (Univ. of Sydney) reveals hundreds of subtle ways that Western civilization has been indebted to Eastern cultures over the past 500 years, especially in clothing and the decorative arts. These include the predominance of oriental names as sources for textiles, and floral and geometric motifs for fabrics and wallpapers coming from oriental carpets, cashmere shawls, paisleys, and countless other artifacts used by Westerners oblivious of their real origins. Geczy claims that studies of Western fashion and dress are unthinkable without recognizing influences from the “exotic other”–Eastern cultures like China, India, Japan, Turkey, and the Islamic world, which provide a continuous source for Western aesthetic creativity. Besides demonstrating how oriental influences have shaped Western styles of dress and ornamentation, Geczy covers political and sociological debates focusing on the term “orientalism,” indicating how it has been modified over time. Finally, he introduces a theoretical approach replacing Western elitist notions of military, political, religious, and social colonialism and postcolonialism with “transorientalism,” meaning the two-sidedness of cultural encounters based on mutual exchanges. This eye-opening, thoughtful work indirectly calls for an Oriental response. Extensive notes and bibliography. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. —B. B. Chico, Regis University

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Jobling, Paul. Advertising menswear: masculinity and fashion in the British media since 1945. Bloomsbury, 2014. 254p bibl index ISBN 9781472533432, $112.00.
Reviewed in CHOICE October 2014

Based on a detailed study of rich archival material, this book is an interesting look at the evolution of advertising campaigns designed to influence British men’s decision making in the postwar period. The story Jobling (Univ. of Brighton, UK) tells is fascinating as a study of changing attitudes and technologies over the second half of the 20th century. Two dozen short chapters break down the history of the advertising campaign temporally and culturally. Taking readers from the difficult period immediately after the end of WW II–through the cycles of prosperity and recession, and turbulent social change–the book offers a panoramic view of advertisers’ responses to the changes. The attempts of menswear advertisers to anticipate, respond to, and initiate changes from a postwar setting of mainly static images and relatively static mores to the unimaginably transformed, contemporary technologies and standards is chronicled in a straightforward and entertaining way. Anyone directly involved in the industry, as well as consumers, will enjoy this book. Academics in various disciplines (e.g., fashion, history, sociology, advertising, media, cultural and gender studies) will also take away something useful. The book deserves a broad audience. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above; general readers. —J. M. Nowakowski, Muskingum University

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Kawamura, Yuniya. Sneakers: fashion, gender, and subculture. Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. 147p bibl index ISBN 9780857857224, $120.00; ISBN 9780857857330 pbk, $29.95; ISBN 9781474262934 ebook, contact publisher for price.
Reviewed in CHOICE January 2017

In this first scholarly study of sneakers, Kawamura (sociology, Fashion Institute of Technology, SUNY) reveals how an article of clothing—”footwear of the masses”—rose to a position of global recognition and prestige and at the same time became an elite symbol of masculinity and a marker for a subculture of African American youth. The popularity of sneakers began in the US in the 1970s, and over the next three decades, sneakers attained a global status. Popularity and commercialization of brand-name sneakers were spurred by the internet and social media, which propagated the notion that colorful sneakers were an elite symbol of masculinity. The appearance of sneakers in dozens of Hollywood films attests to their modern cultural significance. Kawamura includes 40 color images that document his claim that sneakers represent high fashion as well as utility. In making his argument, the author draws on Émile Durkheim’s theories regarding social cohesion, and he provides many references to cross-cultural footwear traditions of the past. The volume suggests avenues for further research, including examination of the juxtaposition of stylish but utilitarian men’s sneakers and impractical but chic high heels for women. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers. —B. B. Chico, Regis Universit

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Steele, Valerie. Paris fashion: a cultural history. Bloomsbury, 2017. 332p bibl index ISBN 9781635570892, $40.00; ISBN 9781635570908 ebook, contact publisher for price.
Reviewed in CHOICE February 2018

This edition of Paris Fashion: A Cultural History has been substantially expanded and updated from its two earlier editions. Steele published the original (CH, Nov’88, 26-1655) early in her career, and since then has risen as a leading voice in fashion scholarship. She serves as the chief curator at the museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, and as editor in chief of the academic journal Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture. This new edition reflects the intervening rise in both Steele’s career, and the field of academic fashion history as a whole. The particular focus on the 19th century remains from the first edition, but chapters on the earlier and more recent periods have been added and expanded, and the 19th-century chapters have been updated (the endnotes are full of citations of sources written since the first edition). In addition to endnotes, the book includes an image list (well over double the images in the original, most in color) and selected bibliography. Those with the earlier editions (the second edition appeared in 1998) should consider investing in this update. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers. —C. E. Berg, Museum of History and Industry

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Tortora, Phyllis G. Dress, fashion, and technology: from prehistory to the present. Bloomsbury Academic, 2015. 245p bibl index ISBN 9780857851901, $99.95; ISBN 9780857851918 pbk, $34.95; ISBN 9780857851932 ebook, contact publisher for price.
Reviewed in CHOICE December 2015

This work is a virtual survey of world history from a material culture perspective, intermingling what humans have put on their bodies, and why, coupled with how tools and processing techniques have been used for these achievements.  The author also includes the importance of changes caused by trade and travel as related to production and consumption.  Tortora (emer., Queens College, CUNY) explains human motivation as the need (or desire) for expressing group affiliation or individual creativity.  Technology as a means of controlling nature is not the focus here.  Rather, the author highlights the use of technology in social mass communication of fashion, resulting in power acquisition.  This new approach to clothing history is particularly meaningful for 21st-century scholars and students who are surrounded by constant technological changes, experimentation, and globalization.  Tortora, a seasoned scholar in her own clothing and textile field, draws from specialists in other disciplines to interpret and successfully “weave” a broad narrative that is broken into short sections of text and embellished by selected illustrations that represent the results of the underpinning technologies.  With her many insights, Tortora opens potential directions for future interdisciplinary research within the arts and sciences. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. —B. B. Chico, Regis University

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Worth, Rachel. Fashion and class. Bloomsbury Academic, 2020. 197p bibl index ISBN 9781847888167, $100.00; ISBN 9781847888150 pbk, $32.95; ISBN 9780857854957 ebook, contact publisher for price.
Reviewed in CHOICE December 2020

Worth (Arts Univ. Bournemouth, UK) argues that fashion has been intertwined with the developing notion of class and class consciousness, resulting from changing political, social, technological, and cultural events in Britain over the past 250 years. Once an elitist expression of wealth, clothing has changed dramatically over time as mass-produced, ready-to-wear clothes replaced individualized, fitted garments. Though recognizing that elitist images of catwalk models wearing expensive styles still exist, Worth contends that what has become “fashionable” (i.e., socially recognized) is more casual clothing worn by technology billionaires such as Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. As the current trendsetters, they embody a new representation of class—style based more on practicality than aesthetics. Worth surveys European political events from the ancien régime to today, charting upheavals and social changes related to the factory system. She utilizes classic British literature to flush out behavior and attitudes related to 19th-century class and clothing. With the 20th century came clothing democratization through the growth of chain stores, retail markets, boutique outlets, and especially marketing as social differences via clothing became less visible. Finally, Worth acknowledges ethical issues related to global warming that currently impact consumer clothing attitudes. Overall, she provides an important, thought-provoking study. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels. —B. B. Chico, Regis University

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