Fashion Foundations: Early Writings on Fashion and Dress

Although it can be difficult to think of fashion in anything other than a contemporary context, as a concept it is hardly new. Costume historians trace the birth of fashion back to the thirteenth century and writings on fashion date back as early as the sixteenth century when Michel de Montaigne pondered its origins, thereby setting in motion a chain of inquiry that has continued to intrigue writers for centuries. This key text reprints classic fashion writings, all of which have had a profound if perhaps untrumpeted impact on our understanding and approach to modern day dress – from the psychology of clothes through to collective fashion trends. Why do we wear clothes? What do they say about our self-awareness and body image? How can we ‘fashion’ new identities through what we wear? Seminal fashion statements by Montaigne, William Hazlitt, Herbert Spencer, Thorstein B. Veblen, Adam Smith, Herbert Blumer, and Georg Simmel answer these questions and many more. Full of vital fashion treasures that have often been ignored, this book fills a major gap in the history of the discipline and will serve as an essential teaching text for years to come.