In Victorian England; womens accessories were always much more than incidental finishing touches to their elaborate dress. Accessories helped women to fashion their identities.Victorian Fashion Accessories explores how womens use of gloves; parasols; fans and vanity sets revealed their class; gender and colonial aspirations.The colour and fit of a pair of gloves could help a middle-class woman indicate her class aspirations.The sun filtering through a rose-colored parasol would provide a woman of a certain age with the glow of youth. The use of a fan was a socially acceptable means of attracting interest and flirting.Even the choice of vanity set on a womans bedroom dresser reflected her complicity with colonial expansion. By paying attention to the particular details of womens accessories we discover the beliefs embedded in these artefacts and enhance our understanding of the culture at large. Beaujots engaging prose illuminates the complex identities of the women who used accessories in the Victorian culture that created and consumed them. Victorian Fashion Accessories is essential reading for students and scholars of; history; gender studies; cultural studies; material culture and fashion studies; as well as anyone interested in the history of dress.
#2236220 in eBooks 2013-09-26 2013-09-26File Name: B00ECGHZWY
Review
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful. To every age its art. To art its freedom.By Martin PIve always been interested by artistic circles - how artists with potentially differing sensibilities and ideals can find a common ground - and the case of the Vienese Secession is hugely interesting. Deliberately turning from their predecessors; this group of artists tried to navigate a new mode of artwork and architecture and came complete with its own headquarters (designed by Secessionist Joseph Maria Olbrich).Definitely the most famous Secessionist and one of the movements founders; Gustav Klimt gets a little more room in the book than his peers; but I have no quibbles about that as I love Klimts work. Other artists appearing in the book include Egon Schiele; Koloman Moser and Alfred Roller and the architectural efforts are represented by the likes of Otto Koloman Wagner; Adolf Loos and the aforementioned Joseph Maria Olbrich. The reproductions are of a high quality; and while essentially showcasing a selection of artists; I felt the book maintained a coherence throughout.For those interested in this vibrant time in Vienese art history and beyond; I would definitely recommend this book.