Paris Fashion and World War Two: Global Diffusion and Nazi Control

(Paperback)

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Winner of the Association of Dress Historians Book of the Year Award, 2021 In 1939, fashion became an economic and symbolic sphere of great importance in France. Invasive textile legislation, rationing and threats from German and American couturiers were pushing the design and trade of Parisian style to its limits. It is widely accepted that French fashion was severely curtailed as a result, isolated from former foreign clients and deposed of its crown as global queen of fashion. This pioneering book offers a different story. Arguing that Paris retained its hold on the international haute couture industry right throughout WWII, eminent dress historians and curators come together to show that, amid political, economic and cultural traumas, Paris fashion remained very much alive under the Nazi occupation and on an international level. Bringing exciting perspectives to challenge a familiar story and introducing new overseas trade links out of occupied France, this book takes us from the salons of renowned couturiers such as Edward Molyneux and Robert Piguet, French Vogue and Le Jardin des Modes and luxury Lyon silk factories, to Rio de Janeiro, Denmark and Switzerland, and the great American department stores of New York. Also comparing extravagant Paris occupation styles to austerity fashions of the UK and USA, parallel industrial and design developments highlight the unresolvable tension between luxury fashion and the everyday realities of wartime life. Showing that Paris strove to maintain world dominance as leader of couture through fashion journalism, photography and exported fashion forecasting, Paris Fashion and World War Two makes a significant contribution to the cultural history of fashion.

Reviews

Essential reading for all students of fashion history in this period. It will undoubtedly endure as a definitive work on the subject of Parisian haute couture during German occupation and serve as a critical guide for the reassessment of fashion history during the wartime era. * The Journal of Dress History *
If readers are looking for high-quality, colorful, and plentiful reproductions of wartime fashion items (gowns, hats, lingerie, shoes etc.) as well as historic photographs and art reproductions, they will find them in ... Paris Fashion and World War Two. ... Anyone attracted to the rise of fashion as an indelible part of twentieth-century modernity and interested in an informed, analytical approach to the social and aesthetic implications of fashion development will find that [this volume] offer[s] much to readers. * H-Soz-Kult *
The book provides an excellent source on global fashion networks in wartime, and the ways fashion is disseminated and adapted within particular cultures, while acting as inspiration for further investigations of these fascinating and important international histories. * Cultural and Social History: The Journal of the Social History Society ISSN: *
Stimulating, analytical, at times very moving, and enhanced by a judicious choice of illustrations. It will become a standard work, one that I cannot recommend highly enough. * Colin McDowell, author of 'The Literary Companion to Fashion' and contributor to The Business of Fashion website *
An extraordinary achievement it transforms our picture of Paris fashion under the Nazi Occupation. * Valerie Steele, Director and Chief Curator at the Museum at FIT, New York, USA *
Bringing together an international cast of scholars and gorgeously illustrated, Paris Fashion and World War Two will become the standard reference on the subject. * Steve Zdatny, University of Vermont, USA *
A must read. It is a kaleidoscopic history of the contradictions faced by those who made, sold and wore luxury fashions during the darkest years of the war. * Alexandra Palmer, Royal Ontario Museum, Canada *
This book is a rarity in fashion scholarship in that it tells a story that engages the heart as much as the head, a story of human courage in the face of a great evil. * Brenda Polan, author of 'The Great Fashion Designers' *

Author Bio

Lou Taylor is Professor Emerita in Dress History at the University of Brighton, UK. She played a central role in establishing the discipline of dress history with her two books The Study of Dress History (2002) and Establishing Dress History (2004). Marie McLoughlin is Senior Lecturer at the University of Brighton, UK. She lectures in dress history and her research interests include the intersection of fashion with art.