Wow! eBook
Wartime Fashion: From Haute Couture to Homemade, 1939-1945
Author(s): Geraldine Howell (Author)
- Publisher: Berg Publishers
- Publication Date: 6 Dec. 2012
- Language: English
- Print length: 272 pages
- ISBN-10: 0857850709
- ISBN-13: 9780857850706
Book Description
A comprehensive analysis of Second World War dress practice and appearance, this study places dress at the forefront of a complex series of cultural chain reactions. As lives were changed by the conditions of war, dress continued to reflect important visual narratives regarding class, gender and taste that would impact significantly on public consciousness of equality, fairness and morale. Using new archival and primary source evidence, Wartime Fashion clarifies how and why clothing was rationed, and repositions style and design during the war in relation to past expectations and ideas about clothes and fabrics. The book explores the impact of war on the dress and appearance of civilian women of all classes in the context of changing social and economic infrastructures created by the national emergency. The varied research elements combined in this book form a rounded and definitive account of the dress history of British women during the Second World War. This is essential reading for anyone with an active interest in the field, whether personal or professional.
Editorial Reviews
Review
‘A rigorous, meticulously researched – and fantastically well referenced – text which will make a significant contribution to existing studies on women’s dress during wartime Britain.’ –Professor Amy de la Haye, Rootstein Hopkins Chair of dress History and Curatorship, London College of Fashion
About the Author
Geraldine Howell currently lectures on dress history at the University of Westminster, London, UK.
