Skirts : fashioning modern femininity in the twentieth century

Skirts Fashioning modern femininity in the twentieth century

Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell

Book - 2022

"In a sparkling, beautifully illustrated social history, Skirts traces the shifting roles of women over the twentieth century through the era's most iconic and influential dresses. While the story of women's liberation has often been framed by the growing acceptance of pants over the twentieth century, the most important and influential female fashions of the era featured skirts. Suffragists and soldiers marched in skirts; the heroines of the Civil Rights Movement took a stand in skirts. Frida Kahlo and Georgia O'Keeffe revolutionized modern art and Marie Curie won two Nobel Prizes in skirts. When NASA put a man on the moon, "the computer wore a skirt," in the words of one of those "computers", mathem...atician Katherine G. Johnson. As women made strides towards equality in the voting booth, the workforce, and the world at large, their wardrobes evolved with them. They did not need to "wear the pants" to be powerful or progressive; the dress itself became modern as designers like Mariano Fortuny, Coco Chanel, Jean Patou, and Diane von Furstenberg redefined femininity for a new era. Skirts looks at the history of twentieth-century womenswear through the lens of game-changing styles like the Little Black Dress and the Bar Suit, as well as more obscure innovations like the Taxi dress or the Popover dress, which came with a matching potholder. These influential garments illuminate the times in which they were first worn-and the women who wore them-while continuing to shape contemporary fashion and even opening the door for a genderfluid future of skirts. At once an authoritative work of history and a delightfully entertaining romp through decades of fashion, Skirts charts the changing fortunes, freedoms, and aspirations of women themselves"--

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Subjects
Skirts > History > 20th century.
Femininity > In popular culture.
Women > Social conditions > 20th century.
Femininities.
Gender expression.
Published
New York : St. Martin's Press [2022]
Language
English
Main Author
Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
xiii, 254 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 22 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9781250275790
  • Author's Note
  • Acknowledgments
  • Introduction
  • 1. The Delphos: Goddess Dressing
  • 2. The Tennis Skirt: Changing the Game
  • 3. The Little Black Dress: Women in Uniform
  • 4. The Wrap Dress: Working It
  • 5. The Strapless Dress: Women on the Brink
  • 6. The Bar Suit: Reinventing the Postwar Woman
  • 7. The Naked Dress: Daring to Bare
  • 8. The Miniskirt: Fashion's Final Frontier
  • 9. The Midi Skirt: Divider of Nations
  • 10. The Bodycon Dress: Anatomy as Accessory
  • Conclusion: The Future of Skirts
  • Bibliography
  • Notes
  • Index
Review by Booklist Review

Chrisman-Campbell, a fashion historian, offers a social history that encompasses feminism and women's evolving status in society through the examination of ten signature garments. Coco Chanel, Mary Quant, and Diane Von Furstenberg are featured as the promulgators of such trends as, respectively, the little black dress (LBD), the miniskirt, and the wrap dress. Lesser known influencers include French Wimbledon champion Suzanne Lenglen, who popularized the tennis dress in 1919; its V-neck, short sleeves, and pleated skirt informed the flapper dresses of the ensuing decade. Debutante Brenda Frazier popularized the strapless evening gown when she appeared on a November 1938 cover of Life at age 17. As the author demonstrates, it was rare that a controversial new style (including miniskirts and bodycon dresses) came without backlash. While the scope of this book doesn't focus much on low-income women, Chrisman-Campbell acknowledges that certain styles, including the LBD, were simple and accessible enough to be adapted by anyone. Fans of women's history, as well as Richard T. Ford's recent Dress Codes (2021), will enjoy this book.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Journalist Chrisman-Campbell (The Way We Wed) takes an entertaining and insightful look at the evolution of the skirt across the 20th century. Spotlighting 10 groundbreaking styles and their various iterations, she examines each design through the lenses of gender, race, class, and fashion. Highlights include the risqué, body-skimming pleats of designer Mariano Fortuny's 1909 Delphos gown, which was inspired by a Hellenistic bronze sculpture, and the empowering and form-fitting elasticized bands of Azzedine Alaïa's 1989 "mummy" dress. Chrisman-Campbell also takes note of controversies surrounding tennis star Suzanne Lenglen's shedding of the sport's long skirt and petticoats for the mobility of a calf-length skirt in 1919, Coco Chanel's liberation of women's formalwear with her "little black dress" in 1920, and Diane von Furstenburg's capturing of the feminist and sexual revolutions with the wrap dress she created at her dining table in 1973. Chrisman-Campbell also sketches the history of men in skirts from the late Middle Ages, when bared legs symbolized strength and power, to Harry Styles's pairing of a black tuxedo jacket and gray evening gown for a 2020 Vogue cover: "There is no more menswear or womenswear, it implied; there is only fashion." Exquisitely detailed and evocatively written, this stylish history casts an underappreciated garment in a rewarding new light. Illus. (Sept.)

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