Dressing Up
By Elizabeth L. Block
By Elizabeth L. Block
By Elizabeth L. Block
By Elizabeth L. Block
Category: Design | European World History
Category: Design | European World History
-
$34.95
Oct 19, 2021 | ISBN 9780262045841
-
Oct 19, 2021 | ISBN 9780262365567
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE
Wearable Utopias
Granny Square Card Deck, The
Beyond Vanity
From Pessimism to Promise
Visual Cultures as World-Forming
Classic Nordic Knits for Kids
The World of Jane Austen: A Conversation Puzzle
Learn to Draw Manga
Taking [A]part
Praise
“This handsomely illustrated, anecdotal volume illuminates the symbiotic relationship between late-19th-century Parisian fashion houses and their well-to-do American clients. Block, a senior editor for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s publication department, writes winningly.”
—the Washington Post
Winner of the Victorian Society in America Book Award, 2022
“Like The Gilded Age, Elizabeth L. Block’s Dressing Up puts the women of the era—and their dresses—at the center of its narrative. Block’s new book frames the wealthy elites who shaped the Gilded Age economy, culture, and politics as consumers, and focuses on the wives and daughters of elite businessmen and financiers. Such an emphasis allows Block not only to insert women and women’s agency more meaningfully into Gilded Age history, but also to explore the economic consequences of the fashion trade. In Block’s narrative, elite women were more than a passive manifestation of Thorstein Veblen’s ‘conspicuous consumption.’ They were active players in a transatlantic network of commerce, power, and privilege that allowed them a position of influence within U.S. society by turning fashion and the dresses they wore into cultural capital.”
– Library Journal
Table Of Contents
I. Power Dressing
1. Introduction: Dressing Up
2. Midcentury Tastemakers
II. Paris as the Center of Haute Couture and Coiffure
3. Connections among Coiffeurs, Couturiers, Milliners, and Perfumers
4. Couturiers and International Expositions
5. International Clientele
III. The U.S. Market for French Fashion
6. Maison Félix and Its U.S. Clients
7. Gowns and Mansions: French Fashion in U.S. Homes
8. Raising Prices: The Impact of U.S. Tariffs
9. The Underworld and Afterlife of French Couture in the United States
10. Conclusion: Follow the Dresses
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
21 Books You’ve Been Meaning to Read
Just for joining you’ll get personalized recommendations on your dashboard daily and features only for members.
Find Out More Join Now Sign In