| Old Clothes, New Looks: Second-Hand Fashion Contributor(s): Alexandra, Palmer (Author), Palmer, Alexandra (Editor), Eicher, Joanne B. (Editor) |
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ISBN: 1859738524 ISBN-13: 9781859738528 Publisher: Berg Publishers OUR PRICE: $173.25 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: April 2005 Annotation: Second-hand fashion has a history as old as the production of clothing itself, but until recently it was given little consideration. Used clothes represent the largest numbers of existing garments but until recently they were not perceived as serious fashion items. However, this has changed dramatically with the rise of vintage web sites, value clothing chains, and the fashion media's perpetuation of the idea that secondhand clothes can be recycled into avant-garde "cool." This book not only shows how important used clothing has become but also what role it plays in culture and history. The Japanese, for example, traditionally salvage sections of kimonos, while in India garments are inexhaustibly recycled. This cross-cultural and historical perspective fills a major gap by offering fresh insights into the innovative use of secondhand dress and age-old traditions of recycling fashion. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Design | Fashion & Accessories - Health & Fitness | Beauty & Grooming - General - Art |
| Dewey: 391.009 |
| LCCN: 2005295111 |
| Series: Dress, Body, Culture |
| Physical Information: 0.77" H x 6.44" W x 9.36" (1.29 lbs) 272 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Recent interest in 'vintage' and second hand clothes by both fashion consumers and designers is only the latest manifestation of a long and complex cultural history of wearing and trading second hand clothes. With its origins in necessity, the passing of clothes between social and economic groups is now a global business, but with roots that are centuries old. To move from one social and cultural situation to another used clothes must be 'transformed' to become of potential value to a new social group. How, when and why this has happened is the subject of this book. Old Clothes, New Looks presents a three-part focus on the history, the trading culture, and the contemporary refashioning of second hand clothing. Historical perspectives include studies located in Renaissance Florence, early industrial England, colonial Australia, and mid twentieth-century Ireland. The global nature of the second hand trade in clothing is presented through original research from Zambia, India, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Japan. The reuse of garments as contemporary fashion statements is explored through studies that include neo-mod retro-sixties subculture in Germany, the impact of 'vintage' in the USA on consumers and designers, as well as consideration of its sartorial and cultural challenges, encapsulated by the work of designer XULY.Bet. This groundbreaking book will be essential reading for all those interested in fashion and dress, material culture, consumption and anthropology, as well as to dealers, collectors and wearers of second hand clothes. |
Contributor Bio(s): Palmer, Alexandra: - Alexandra Palmer is the Nora E. Vaughan Fashion Costume Curator, in the Textile and Costume Section at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Toronto.Clark, Hazel: - Hazel Clark is Chair of the Dept. of Art and Design Studies at Parsons the New School for Design, New York. Clark is co-editor of Old Clothes, New Looks: Second Hand Fashion and The Fabric of Cultures: Fashion, Identity and Globalization.Palmer, Alexandra: - Alexandra Palmer is the Nora E. Vaughan Fashion Costume Curator, in the Textile and Costume Section at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Toronto.Clark, Hazel: - Hazel Clark is Chair of the Dept. of Art and Design Studies at Parsons the New School for Design, New York. Clark is co-editor of Old Clothes, New Looks: Second Hand Fashion and The Fabric of Cultures: Fashion, Identity and Globalization.Eicher, Joanne B.: - Joanne B. Eicher is Regents Professor Emerita at the University of Minnesota. Joanne is Editor-in-Chief, Encyclopedia of Dress and Fashion (Bloomsbury and OUP); Series Editor, Dress, Body Culture (Bloomsbury); Author, Editor, Co-Editor, The Visible Self, (Fairchild); Dress and Gender (Berg); Dress and Ethnicity (Berg); Beads and Beadmakers (Berg); Mother, Daughter, Sister, Bride (National Geographic); a wide variety of published articles in professional journals and chapters in books. |