Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Explores the relationship between changes in fashion and ideas about masculinity and femininity. Among the subjects covered here are sports uniforms, work clothes, children's clothes. Many contemporary illustrations, a few in color. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

The editors have assembled the most remarkable book on the history of fashion available today. More than just a history, it analyzes what changes in fashion say about gender, class, and morality, noting, for example, that the point at which parents begin dressing children specifically as girls or boys has changed over time. Pink and blue have not always held the connotations they do today: until about 1920 reds and pinks were considered masculine and blues feminine. Changing hair styles and body types are also examined, with the medieval preference for slenderness and the Renaissance ideal of solidity and weight duly acknowledged. The book also covers work clothes, sports clothes, military uniforms, blue jeans, and lingerie. A concise and lively book that works on all levels, for casual reader or scholar. Highly recommended.-- Daniel J. Lombardo, Jones Lib., Inc., Amherst, Mass. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

Kidwell (coauthor of Suiting Everyone: The Democratization of Clothing in America ), costume curator at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, and Steele ( Paris Fashion: A Cultural History ) examine fashion in a cultural context, directing their attention to utilitarian clothes (such as the garments worn by football players, who ``laid aside their hats, and coats and vests'' to play unprotected when the game took hold in the 19th century) and to the androgynous, controversial apparel of avant-garde '60s designer Rudi Gernreich. Focusing on the interplay of gender and attire, the authors conclude that ``certain symbols resist change stubbornly,'' just as ideas of masculinity and femininity do, and offer multiple illuminating examples. Their comprehensive, succinct discussion of the many facets of dress and sexual roles treats the clothing of children, wardrobes worn on the job, fads and experiments (e.g., bloomers, a 19th century precursor of feminine trousers). Illustrated. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

CHOICE Review

Costume historian Kidwell (Smithsonian) began an interdisciplinary project in the late 1970s researching the relationship between appearance and cultural definitions of masculine and feminine behavior related to clothing. Coeditor Steele (Fashion Institute of Technology--SUNY), author of Fashion and Eroticism (CH, Oct '85) and Paris Fashion: A Cultural History (CH, Nov '88), brings scholarly precision to this important work combining psychology, sociology, history, and art. The collection breaks some new, fascinating ground in the areas of children's gender clothing (Paoletti and Kregloh); gendered occupational clothing (Steele); and sportswear (Schreier). Smithsonian costume specialist Shelly Foote's discussion of two examples challenging gender-accepted appearance is weak because she compares the unsuccessful 19th-century attempt to introduce the bloomer pants costume for women with the 20th-century successful Beatles-initiated convention of men wearing long hair. Using the "occupation" theme, Steele's careful male/female comparisons of 19th- and 20th-century police and medical uniforms, coupled with office and factory clothing, provide clearer relationships between gender and clothing. This work is limited to white, middle-class America, but the issues it poses have global possibilities for future interpretations. Contains 31 colored and 86 black-and-white carefully chosen illustrations, an index, and 12 pages of notes. Libraries at all levels. B. B. Chico University of Colorado at Denver