The Culture of Clothing : Dress and Fashion in the Ancien Régime

Rating:
Summary: A comprehensive look at clothing
Review: Roche's book offers a very complete view of clothing, dress, and fashion (the three are not the same for him) during the early modern period in France. Ranging from notarial inventories to linen theft, his empirical evidence support his main thesis that rapid changes in society ultimately culminated in a clothing revolution of sorts in the latter half of the eighteenth century. His in-depth analysis of even the most esoteric aspects of clothing and dress in the Ancien Regime prove just how diffuse the effects of those items were on all aspects of society. His arguments regarding the development of a sexual dimorphism as a result of changes in and perceptions of fashion presents a particularly interesting viewpoint on how clothes came to "make the man" or women, as the case may be in that argument. Equally interesting are his discussions on linen and cleanliness and the inventories of clothing taken upon a persons death. Importantly, Roche's analysis travels far beyond just a cursory look at the nobility and courtly attire into the world of the bourgeois class and especially on the lower working classes of France at the time. Where other authors fall far short of offering a complete view of attitudes toward fashing, dress, and clothing in the early modern period, Roche ably fills in the gaps and never shies away from an exhaustive look at the many aspects of clothing in the Ancien Regime.

Rating:
Summary: A comprehensive look at clothing
Review: Roche's book offers a very complete view of clothing, dress, and fashion (the three are not the same for him) during the early modern period in France. Ranging from notarial inventories to linen theft, his empirical evidence support his main thesis that rapid changes in society ultimately culminated in a clothing revolution of sorts in the latter half of the eighteenth century. His in-depth analysis of even the most esoteric aspects of clothing and dress in the Ancien Regime prove just how diffuse the effects of those items were on all aspects of society. His arguments regarding the development of a sexual dimorphism as a result of changes in and perceptions of fashion presents a particularly interesting viewpoint on how clothes came to "make the man" or women, as the case may be in that argument. Equally interesting are his discussions on linen and cleanliness and the inventories of clothing taken upon a persons death. Importantly, Roche's analysis travels far beyond just a cursory look at the nobility and courtly attire into the world of the bourgeois class and especially on the lower working classes of France at the time. Where other authors fall far short of offering a complete view of attitudes toward fashing, dress, and clothing in the early modern period, Roche ably fills in the gaps and never shies away from an exhaustive look at the many aspects of clothing in the Ancien Regime.