The field of dress history has experienced exponential growth over the past two decades. This in-depth investigation examines the expanding borders and porous boundaries of the discipline today, outlining key debates and showcasing the most exciting research.
With international case studies from a wide range of scholars, the volume encompasses work from a variety of historical periods from the late 18th century to the present day. Contributors examine, critique and expand the methodologies and sources used in fashion history, analyse how dress is collected, displayed and sold, and investigate clothing's meanings and uses in the practice of identity.
Exploring overlooked territories and new approaches to analysis, the book offers students and scholars a fresh appraisal of dress history in the 21st century.
This book, edited by Pollen and Nicklas, eminent scholars of dress and appearance theory and history, powerfully argues that the field's maturity has delineated a new position for the field, one far from the borders of scholarship. It provides new research and methods, and importantly the book defines multiple avenues for the field's further forward movement. It features case studies of marginal and silent areas of dress history, examines the critical role of interdisciplinarity, and with brilliant clarity stakes a claim for the field's centrality to humanistic studies. For scholars and serious students of dress and appearance theory and history, this book is a must read.