Description
In this highly original book, Susan Hiner looks behind fashion's seams to open up both fashion and French cultural studies to new ways of understanding the 19th century, through examining the forgotten women responsible for fashion production in France, and in so doing, demonstrates their complex and contradictory roles as producers of luxury items, being both exploited by an oppressive fashion system while serving as influencers within it.
About the Author
Susan Hiner is Professor of French and Francophone Studies at Vassar College working at the intersection of literature, visual culture, and cultural history of women. She is the author of Accessories to Modernity (2010) and numerous articles pertaining to nineteenth-century French culture. She was awarded an NEH grant for 2016-17 to advance her new book Behind the Seams.
Reviews
This outstanding study, rich in newly discovered archival materials, illuminates the pathways to professionalization forged by skilled women hatmakers, journalists, and illustrators... Brilliant analyses by Hiner, one of today's leading fashion scholars, make this beautifully illustrated book a must-read. * Heidi Brevik-Zender, University of California, Riverside, USA *
Hiner's beautifully illustrated book takes us behind the shop windows and into the workshops, salons and studios of the women who made Paris fashion famous in the nineteenth century ... A must read for everyone interested in the hidden histories of fashion. * Alison Matthews David, Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada *
An original and significant contribution to our understanding of women's lives in 19th-century France. * Valerie Steele, Museum at FIT, USA *
This beautifully illustrated volume explores the hidden work of women who produced or promoted female fashion in nineteenth-century France. With astute readings of text and image Hiner uncovers, in fascinating detail, a different reality beneath the frothy glamour of silk and lace. * Anne Green, King's College London, UK *
Book Information
ISBN 9781350339804
Author Susan Hiner
Format Hardback
Page Count 280
Imprint Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC