The Suit: Form, Function and Style

Breward, Christopher;Ehrman, Edwina;Evans, Caroline

ISBN 10: 1780235232 / ISBN 13: 9781780235233

Published by Reaktion Books, London, 2016

About this Item

Book and jacket very clean. Binding tight. 240pp The Suit unpicks the story of this most familiar garment, from its emergence in western Europe at the end of the seventeenth century to today. Suit-wearing figures such as the Savile Row gentleman and the Wall Street businessman have long embodied ideas of tradition, masculinity, power and respectability, but the suit has also been used to disrupt concepts of gender and conformity. Adopted and subverted by women, artists, musicians and social revolutionaries through the decades - from dandies and Sapeurs to the Zoot Suit and Le Smoking. Size: 165mm x 245mm.

Seller Inventory # 023208

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Suit: Form, Function and Style
• Publisher: Reaktion Books, London
• Publication Date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1780235232
• ISBN 13: 9781780235233
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: Reprint.
• Condition: As New
• Dust Jacket Condition: As New
• Book Type: Book
• Seller catalogs:
  • Fashion, Costume, Jewellery and Textiles

About this title

Synopsis

A beautifully tailored history of this fashion staple—at once a garment of tradition, power, and subversion.
 
The Suit unpicks the story of this most familiar garment, from its emergence in western Europe at the end of the seventeenth century to today. Suit-wearing figures such as the Savile Row gentleman and the Wall Street businessman have long embodied ideas of tradition, masculinity, power, and respectability, but the suit has also been used to disrupt concepts of gender and conformity. Adopted and subverted by women, artists, musicians, and social revolutionaries through the decades—from dandies and Sapeurs to the Zoot Suit and Le Smoking—the suit is also a device for challenging the status quo. For all those interested in the history of menswear, this beautifully illustrated book offers new perspectives on this most mundane, and poetic, product of modern culture.

About the Author

Christopher Breward is the director of National Museums Scotland. He is the author of The Hidden Consumer, Fashion, and Fashioning London.