The Anatomy of Fashion - by Susan J Vincent (Paperback)

About the Book

Taking different body parts in turn, this book invites us to view ourselves as we have been in the past. Arguing that analysis needs to aspire to the proliferation and playfulness of fashion itself, it both explores a different aesthetic and examines its implications. Whether in the mechanisms of production, the politics of consumption, the construction of sexuality or gender, or the formation and reformation of manners and morals, fashion is there.--[back cover]

Book Synopsis

Clothes take the ordinary human body and fashion it into something remarkable. Born to the same anatomical legacy, each generation has used garments to shape itself in the image of its own particular desires.

Taking different body parts in turn, The Anatomy of Fashion invites us to view ourselves as we have been in the past. Arguing that analysis needs to aspire to the proliferation and playfulness of fashion itself, the chapters both explore a different aesthetic and examine its wider, and often surprising, implications. In countless different ways, fashion is caught up in the larger picture of its chronological moment. Whether in the mechanisms of production, the politics of consumption, the construction of sexuality or gender, or the formation and reformation of manners and morals, fashion is there.

In its provocative conclusion The Anatomy of Fashion turns its attention to dress practices today. Reassembling the anatomical parts, the text places the contemporary body in the historical view and reveals the strangeness that lies at the heart of our own normality.

Review Quotes

"It is always a delight to discover a non-fiction writer who can write about history with both intelligence and levity. Although this book is well suited as a textbook, it is an engaging and thoughtful read for even seasoned fashion veterans." --Ingrid Mida, Fashion is my Muse

"The Anatomy of Fashion is a glorious, resounding, and opulent "yes" to the untapped energy of seeing fashion as a cultural artifact of the utmost intimacy." --Bob Duggan, bigthink.com

About the Author

Susan J.Vincent is an honorary visiting fellow at the University of York. Her research interests to date have centred about the cultural history of dress in the early modern period. She is the author of Dressing the Elite: Clothes in Early Modern England (Berg, 2003).