Edith Wharton and the Making of Fashion
Department
English
Document Type
Book
Files
Description
Edith Wharton and the Making of Fashion places the iconic New York figure and her writing in the context of fashion history and shows how dress lies at the very center of her thinking about art and culture. The study traces American patronage of the Paris couture houses from Worth and Doucet through Poiret and Chanel and places Wharton's characters in these establishments and garments to offer fresh readings of her well-known novels. Less known are Wharton's knowledge of and involvement in the craft of garment making in her tales of seamstresses, milliners, and textile workers, as well as in her creation of workshops in Paris during the First World War to employ Belgian and French seamstresses and promote the value of handmade garments in a world given to machine-driven uniformity of design and labor. Pointing the way toward further research and inquiry, Katherine Joslin has produced a truly interdisciplinary work that combines the best of literary criticism with an infectious love and appreciation of material culture.
Call number in WMU's library
PS3545.H16 Z6855 2009 (Waldo Library, WMU Authors Collection, First Floor)
ISBN
978-1584657798
Publication Date
2009
Publisher
University of New Hampshire Press
City
Durham, N.H.
Keywords
Clothing and dress in literature, Class consciousness in literature.
Disciplines
English Language and Literature
Recommended Citation
Joslin, Katherine, "Edith Wharton and the Making of Fashion" (2009). All Books and Monographs by WMU Authors. 120.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/books/120
Comments
This book was named "Outstanding Academic Title" by the American Library Association Choice Magazine.