When we look closely at dress in a novel we begin to enrich our sense of the novel's historical and social context. More than this, wealth, class, beauty and moral rectitude can all be coded in fabric. In the modern novel, narratives are increasingly situated within the consciousness of characters, and it is the experience of dress that tells us about the context and the emotional, political and psychological values of the characters. Dressed in Fiction traces the deployment of dress in key fictional texts of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, from Daniel Defoe's Roxana to George Eliot's Middlemarch and Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth. Covering a range of topics, from the growth of the middle classes and the association of luxury with vice, to the reasons why wedding dresses rarely ever symbolize happiness, the book presents a unique study of the history of clothing through the most popular and influential literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Bowlers, Bergeres, berets and beyond, this is the ultimate guide to hats through history. From the lavish fashion hats of Marie Antoinette's court to the experimental millinery of Stephen Jones and Philip Treacy, Hats takes us on a beautifully illustrated journey through class conflict, gendered etiquette and national allegiances to reveal the complex cultures from which each style emerged. Unlike any other element of dress, hats are able to confer a certain presence on the wearer, whilst working to a seemingly arcane system of codes that govern our behaviour. At which occasion is it appropriate to wear a hat? When is it respectful to take hats off? Why did hats fall out of favour? Structured thematically with issues such as power and disguise, Clair Hughes explores both historical and contemporary styles, as well as their depictions in art, literature and film, with sharp historical insights and playful narratives. Including head-turning designs at world-famous horse races, the hat habits of royal family members, literary mad hatters and French high-fashion millinery by the likes of Poiret, Vionnet and Chanel, this is the authoritative guide to one of the most culturally rich accessories in fashion. Hats is the first title in the Elements of Dress Series, edited by Susan Vincent.

When we look closely at dress in a novel we begin to enrich our sense of the novel's historical and social context. More than this, wealth, class, beauty and moral rectitude can all be coded in fabric. In the modern novel, narratives are increasingly situated within the consciousness of characters, and it is the experience of dress that tells us about the context and the emotional, political and psychological values of the characters. Dressed in Fiction traces the deployment of dress in key fictional texts of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, from Daniel Defoe's Roxana to George Eliot's Middlemarch and Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth. Covering a range of topics, from the growth of the middle classes and the association of luxury with vice, to the reasons why wedding dresses rarely ever symbolize happiness, the book presents a unique study of the history of clothing through the most popular and influential literature of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.