Sex And Suits
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.50 (834 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0679430962 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 212 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-03-26 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
An argument for the value of modern fashion as sexual express., with the tailored suit as its strongest example. Dress was equally showy for men & women until the late 18th century, when natural simplicity & understatement became fashionable, but for men's clothes only. Illustrations.. Also shows how men are recapturing the color & ornament they found taboo, without giving up the potent beauty of tailored suits, which women have made universal. Hollander shows how modern women adapted men's tailoring to their richer scheme of display, making suits do for women what they had long done for men: show their sexuality to be central, serious &
"Excellent work" according to Evelina. The book is very informative about western fashion, as constrasted to traditional forms of dress, such as the sari or chador. It's mainly about how the suit evolved. In the process, it explains a great deal about fashion, why fashion changes, why fashion is not linked to social and political changes as we so. "An Interesting Historical Perspective" according to A Customer. Forget the titillating implication of the title, this is a seriousand well-written history of how we came to wear the clotheswe do. Undoubtedly loaded with the author's biases, it still gives some perspective on the styles, especially in men's suits, that we rarely think about. Not a "Gee, Whiz" type of book. "Fashion is serious and its part of social history." according to dilletante david. An extremely perceptive history of fashion and its relationship to the roles of the sexes in public life. The shift from men as peacocks to sober Victorian black - which still continues reflects the perceptions of power. As she points out the truly colourful males are now the powerless in society- dropouts,
She invisions a postmodern future when both sexes will wear a new standard, androgynous costume, and in leisure time men and women will share equally in all the possibilities of robes, skirts, cosmetics, historic styles and adornments. Aided by paintings, old prints and society and fashion photographs, art historian Hollander (Seeing Through Clothes) deciphers the fluctuating aesthetic and sexual messages encoded in men's and women's clothing through the centuries. From Publishers Weekly From medieval tunics to the modern business suit, men's clothing-combining ease of use, cohesive formal design and a reflection of underlying bodily shape and movement-has been more advanced and liberating than women's fashions, the author shows. Why has the man's suit endured as a basic fashion item? Why have women wanted "so desperately" to copy male tailoring? This iconoclastic, continually stimulating essay ar