Dress, Fashion and Technology: From Prehistory to the Present

(Paperback)

Available Formats

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Technology has been an essential factor in the production of dress and the cultures of fashion throughout human history. Structured chronologically from prehistory to the present day, this is the first broad study of the complex relationship between dress and technology. Over the course of human history, dress-making and fashion technology has changed beyond recognition: from needles and human hands in the ancient world to complex 20th-century textile production machines, it has now come to include the technologies that influence dress styles and the fashion industry, while fashion itself may drive aspects of technology. In the last century, new technologies such as the electronic media and high-tech manufacturing have helped not just to produce but to define fashion: the creation of automobiles prompted a decline in long skirts for women while the beginnings of space travel caused people to radically rethink the function of dress. In many ways, technology has itself created avant garde and contemporary fashions. Through an impressive range of international case studies, the book challenges the perception that fashion is unique to western dress and outlines the many ways in which dress and technology intersect. Dress, Fashion and Technology is ideal reading for students and scholars of fashion studies, textile history, anthropology and cultural studies.

Reviews

Most books on the history of fashion present dress as the dependent variable, the passive beneficiary of technological change. Tortora instead makes a convincing case for fashion being the driving force that has stimulated technology and propelled it forward. This book will become a classic and essential text for teaching the history of fashion. * Kathleen E. Campbell, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA *
Tortoras ambitious study examines the technological tools and processes involved in creating clothing and textiles. [...] Using exemplary case studies from throughout the centuries, Dress, Fashion and Technology will serve as an exceptional resource and textbook, particularly for students studying the history of dress. * Dress: The Journal of the Costume Society of America *

Author Bio

Phyllis G. Tortora is Professor Emerita at Queens College, The City University of New York, USA.