Out of Shape: Debunking Myths about Fashion and Fit

(Paperback)

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I'm in a change room, flailing around with a dress stuck over my head, trying desperately not to alert the sales assistant to my struggles. Not every change-room experience is as humiliating as this, but the frequent frustrations and 'bad fits' are like loose threads threatening to unravel the self-esteem of just about every shopper. From corsets to skinny jeans, we have always fretted about our body shapes and why it's so damn difficult to find a good fit. In this bold and en tertaining book, Mel Campbell examines the tensions that have always existed in clothing between our cultural ideals and our own bodies. Through lively interviews, her own experiences, and visits to vintage fairs, museums and galleries, Mel explores why we are still so critical of our various shapes and restricted by old-fashioned values. Challenging our perceptions of fashion and debunking myths about size and fit, Out of Shape reveals how, when it comes to clothes, the past and present are cut from the same cloth.

Author Bio

Mel Campbell is a Melbourne-based journalist who specialises in popular culture. She is founding editor of online magazine The Enthusiast, national film editor of The Thousands network of online city guides, and a regular contributor to Crikey, New Matilda and The Drum. She is also former pop-culture editor of alternative fashion magazine YEN, and a former deputy editor of music monthly triple j magazine. Out of Shape is her first book.