Clothing as Material Culture

In recent years, there has been a spate of books theorizing fashion. Few, however, take on board the artefactual nature of cloth. In contrast, costume historians have looked closely at garments, but have shown less concern with how clothing is informed by social structures. This book fills a major gap by combining these two "camps" through an expressly material culture approach to clothing. In sustained case studies, Küchler and Miller argue that cloth and clothing are living, vibrant parts of culture and the body. From the recycling of cloth in Africa and India and the use of pattern in the Pacific, to the history of "wash and wear" and why women wear the wrong clothes to restaurants, this book shows the considerable advantage gained by seamlessly combining material and social aspects of dress and textiles.