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Appearances: Memory, History, Clothes

by Carol Dyhouse

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Clothing as personal memory and cultural history

$28.81 USD
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Hardcover New English

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AlbakiReads Editorial

Clothing as personal memory and cultural history

Appearances brings family history into conversation with the social meanings attached to dress. Carol Dyhouse traces attitudes toward personal appearance across four generations of women in her family, using memoir alongside a broader history of fashion, femininity, and feminism in the recent past. Questions about “looking classy” and “power dressing” lead into tensions between dress and desire, glamour and feminism, and individual choices and the values or constraints shaping women’s lives. The book offers a way to consider clothes not only as matters of taste, but also as part of how women navigate identity and social expectations.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in fashion and the cultural history of clothing
  • Readers exploring femininity, feminism, and women’s social history
  • Readers who enjoy memoir connected with wider historical themes

Themes

Clothing and personal appearanceFashion and memoryFemininity and feminismSocial values and women’s lives

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

What does it mean to obsess about clothes and appearances? For some of us, deciding what to wear can involve tension and torment as well as delight. What do we mean by 'looking classy' or 'power dressing'? What are the connections - or contradictions - between dress and desire, glamour and feminism? Do our choices reflect or challenge social values and constraints in women's lives? Appearances is both memoir and cultural history. It considers attitudes to personal appearance through four generations of women in the author's family, weaving memory through a wide-ranging exploration of fashion, femininity and feminism in the recent past.
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