The Fashion History Reader: Global Perspectives

"Fashion is a slippery subject, that's why we love her so. This work covers fascinating new territories and bridges the way for much future development with its inspired research, written by the best minds and eyes in the field today...surely to become a classic monument for fashion detectives." Ruben Toledo, Fashion Artist And Illustrator

"At last a book that brings it all together, from Madame Gres' elegance to grunge in Japan." Martine Sitbon, Fashion Designer

"Now, the key contributions from nearly every expert in the field are assembled in one fascinating book. This kaleidoscopic and informative volume ranges impressively across conventional boundaries of chronology. geography. and discipline." Glenn Adamson, Victoria And Albert Museum

"Breaking down barriers, in this book you will discover how fashion has always been a global phenomenon." Margaretha Van Den Bosch, Head Of Design At H&M

"This book is indispensable for anyone interested in fashion. History has never been more alive than in the pages of this Reader." Patrizia Calefato, University Of Bari, Italy

History is uncomfortable with fashion and fashion frequently denies its own history. Why? This path-breaking analysis presents the views of over seventy leading academics of many cultures and spans the twelfth to the twentieth centuries.

The Fashion History Reader is an innovative work that provides a broad introduction to the complex literature in the fields of fashion studies, and dress and fashion history. Twenty-three chapters and over forty shorter "snapshot" texts cover a wide range of topics and approaches within the history of fashion, ranging from object-based studies to theory-driven analyses. Themes also move in and across time, providing a chronology to enable student learning.

A comprehensive introduction by the editors contextualises the debates for students, synthesising past history and bringing them up to date through a discussion of globalisation. Each section also includes a short, accessible introduction by the editors, placing each chapter within the wider, thematic treatment of fashion and its history. There are also highly detailed further reading sections which encourage students to enhance their learning independently.