Fashioning Society

Fashioning Society tells the story of the period from the 1860s to the 1970s, a time when a succession of haute couture designers-most notably, Charles Worth, Paul Poiret, Coco Chanel, Elsa Schiaparelli, Christian Dior, and Yves Saint Laurent-were the arbiters of fashion, and their creations were the weapon of choice for power-seeking members of the aristocracy and upper classes. The book explores the ways in which high fashion designers and their maisons mutually influenced the fine arts and sociological, technological, philosophical, and political developments. The author compares the "hundred years of fashion" to the current relationship of haute couture with other aspects of world culture and civilization. In addressing the question, "What has happened to high fashion design?" it presents what students of style and fashion should consider when trying to understand and predict broad trends.Features:-- "Looking Forward/Looking Back," demonstrates how motives similar to those that drove relationship between high fashion and society during the hundred years of fashion continue to affect those interactions today-- End-of-chapter boxes contain extracts from recent newspaper articles to generate discussion comparing the role of high fashion in the past and present-- The timeline in the appendix provides a chronological framework of events and trends-- 16-page color insert illustrates key examples of the work of the six designers whose stories form the core of the narrative