Overview

Over the past three centuries, London has established itself as one of the worlds most inventive fashion capitals. City life and fashion have always been intertwined, but nowhere has this relationship been more excitingly expressed than on the streets of London. Fashioning London looks at the manner in which particular styles of dress became associated with this leading international city, ultimately challenging the dominance of Paris, Milan and New York.From the ballrooms and boxing rings of the eighteenth century, through Victorian extremes of poverty and conspicuous consumption, to the flamboyant explosions of subcultural taste that define the capital today, Londoners have constantly offered an idiosyncratic reading of fashionability that has profoundly influenced the nature of style elsewhere. Breward constructs an original history of clothing in London its manufacture, promotion and cultural meaning while showing how issues of space, architecture and performance impinge on notions of fashionability. It highlights the importance of such outfits as the dandy's suit, the dolly bird's mini-skirt and the second-hand ensemble of the punk in forming our understanding of the capital's distinctive character. Drawing on a range of sources, including paintings, street photography, maps, tourist guides, literature, stage and press representations, Fashioning London paints a vivid and definitive portrait of Londons iconoclastic style.

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9781859737873

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Reviews

'Christopher Breward proves an entertainingly expert guide to everything from Regency Dandies and Mary Quant's miniskirts to Teddy Boys and Vivienne Westwood's safety pins.' James Kidd, Ham High 'Breward leaves no stone unturned in this convincing analysis of the wildly varied style nuances which have gripped the capital over the years.' Khabi Mirza, Drapers 'At once an academic text and a love letter to a city, this is Breward's best book yet. Fashioning London breaks new ground as it weaves together disparate histories and discourses to capture the fugitive pleasures of fashion and urban space.' Caroline Evans, Central St Martins College of Art and Design 'Breward's utterly fascinating book is an exquisite panorama of the city's dandies, spivs and beaus - of both sexes. Time-travelling through two centuries of fashion, this is the ultimate observer's book of London a la mode.' Philip Hoare, author of Wilde's Last Stand and Noel Coward: A Biography 'In his f

Christopher Breward proves an entertainingly expert guide to everything from Regency Dandies and Mary Quant's miniskirts to Teddy Boys and Vivienne Westwood's safety pins. * James Kidd, Ham High * Breward leaves no stone unturned in this convincing analysis of the wildly varied style nuances which have gripped the capital over the years. * Khabi Mirza, Drapers * At once an academic text and a love letter to a city, this is Breward's best book yet. Fashioning London breaks new ground as it weaves together disparate histories and discourses to capture the fugitive pleasures of fashion and urban space. * Caroline Evans, Central St Martins College of Art and Design * Breward's utterly fascinating book is an exquisite panorama of the city's dandies, spivs and beaus - of both sexes. Time-travelling through two centuries of fashion, this is the ultimate observer's book of London a la mode. * Philip Hoare, author of Wilde's Last Stand and Noel Coward: A Biography * These scholars exhibit a high degree of sensitivity to the varieties of taste, and they effectively engage cultural theory to analyze artifacts as evidence. Their tales of style and identity, diversity and fashion, production and consumption hold important lessons for business historians traveling the cultural path. * Business History Review *

Author Information

Christopher Breward is Professor in Historical and Cultural Studies, London College of Fashion.

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