Fashion, culture and modern life

         ‘Adorned in dreams: fashion and modernity’

                               by Elizabeth Wilson

If you believe that fashion is no more than a superficial and frivolous aspect of everyday life, this book will make you think again. While adornment has been a preoccupation of human beings for millenia, the concept of ‘fashion’ is distinctly modern. It is inextricably linked with the rise of an urban, capitalist and industrialized society.

Today, the fashion and beauty industry is a global, billion dollar empire. In fact the history of early industrialization largely revolved around the clothing industry, and the author describes the appalling conditions in the 19th century sweat shops. Shamefully, such practices have not been abandoned but merely displaced from Western Europe to other parts of the world.

The conundrum of modern fashion is that is aims to express individuality, yet often does this by an insiduous pressure to conform to certain standards of beauty. Perhaps this is why those personal make-over shows on television make such ghastly yet utterly compelling viewing…

      ‘Looking flash: clothing in Aotearoa New Zealand’

                             edited by Bronwyn Labrum, et al.

If you are intrigued to know what New Zealanders have made of of the fashion question, this book gives a fascinating insight into a variety of topics such as colonial and Maori dress, wartime garb, uniforms, beach wear, and of course the black singlet.

Both highly recommended,

 Sylvia

‘Looking flash : clothing in Aotearoa New Zealand’ is on display at Hurunui District library from 14-21 February.

Avril