Publisher Description

Technology has been an essential factor in the production of dress and the cultures of fashion throughout human history. Structured chronologically from prehistory to the present day, this is the first broad study of the complex relationship between dress and technology.Over the course of human history, dress-making and fashion technology has changed beyond recognition: from needles and human hands in the ancient world to complex 20th-century textile production machines, it has now come to include the technologies that influence dress styles and the fashion industry, while fashion itself may drive aspects of technology. In the last century, new technologies such as the electronic media and high-tech manufacturing have helped not just to produce but to define fashion: the creation of automobiles prompted a decline in long skirts for women while the beginnings of space travel caused people to radically rethink the function of dress. In many ways, technology has itself created avant garde and contemporary fashions.Through an impressive range of international case studies, the book challenges the perception that fashion is unique to western dress and outlines the many ways in which dress and technology intersect. Dress, Fashion and Technology is ideal reading for students and scholars of fashion studies, textile history, anthropology and cultural studies.

Author Biography

Phyllis G. Tortora is Professor Emerita at Queens College, The City University of New York, USA.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Connecting Technology, Dress, and FashionPart I, Before the RevolutionChapter 2: Dress and The Technologies Of Prehistory (Upper Paleolithic to the Neolithic Period)Chapter 3: Technologies And Dress In Towns, Cities and Empires (Neolithic Period to C. 500 C.E.)Chapter 4: Technology And Dress Facilitate Fashion Change(Dark Ages to the Seventeenth Century in Europe)Chapter 5: Some Asian Developments in Technology, Dress and Fashion (End of the Neolithic Period until the 17th Century)Part II: The Industrial Revolution and First Steps Toward the Fashion IndustryChapter 6: Dress and Fashion Move The Industrial Revolution Forward(18th Century)Chapter 7: The Role Of Dress and Fashion in the Industrial Revolution(c. 1800 to 1860)Chapter 8: Dress, Fashion and Social Changes Follow the Industrial Revolution(Nineteenth Century)Chapter 9: Tools that Enable Fashion Change and Innovations in Dress(19th century)Part III, The Fashion Industry is BornChapter 10: Tools and Processes Expand Options for Dress and Fashion(20th and 21st centuries)Chapter 11: Transportation and its Effects(20th and 21st centuries)Chapter 12: The Effects of Sports(19th to the 21st centuries)Chapter 13: Communications Technologies that Disseminate Fashion Information(19th to the 21st centuries)Part IV, High Tech Enters Chapter 14: Technology Contributes to the Globalization of Fashion(20th and 21st centuries)Chapter 15: Environments Interact with Technologies(20th and 21st centuries)Chapter 16 New Technological Frontiers for Dress And Fashion(21st century)References Acknowledgements

Review

Most books on the history of fashion present dress as the dependent variable, the passive beneficiary of technological change. Tortora instead makes a convincing case for fashion being the driving force that has stimulated technology and propelled it forward. This book will become a classic and essential text for teaching the history of fashion. * Kathleen E. Campbell, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA *
Tortora's ambitious study examines the technological tools and processes involved in creating clothing and textiles. [...] Using exemplary case studies from throughout the centuries, Dress, Fashion and Technology will serve as an exceptional resource and textbook, particularly for students studying the history of dress. * Dress: The Journal of the Costume Society of America *

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This ground-breaking study explores the relationships and interactions between technology, dress and fashion and how these have changed throughout human history.

Review Quote

"Most books on the history of fashion present dress as the dependent variable, the passive beneficiary of technological change. Tortora instead makes a convincing case for fashion being the driving force that has stimulated technology and propelled it forward. This book will become a classic and essential text for teaching the history of fashion." -- Kathleen E. Campbell, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA " Technology as a means of controlling nature is not the focus here. Rather, the author highlights the use of technology in social mass communication of fashion, resulting in power acquisition. This new approach to clothing history is particularly meaningful for 21st-century scholars and students who are surrounded by constant technological changes, experimentation, and globalization. Tortora, a seasoned scholar in her own clothing and textile field, draws from specialists in other disciplines to interpret and successfully 'weave' a broad narrative that is broken into short sections of text and embellished by selected illustrations that represent the results of the underpinning technologies. With her many insights, Tortora opens potential directions for future interdisciplinary research within the arts and sciences. Summing Up : Highly recommended. All levels/libraries." -B. B. Chico, Regis University, CHOICE "This book can be a very strong resource for both the textiles and the historic costume professor who wants to add depth to their classes. This book is also written in a manner that can speak to the person who is simply interested in historic costume. The book is easily readable for a topic that takes a strong 'behind the scenes' look at the integral forces that shaped fashion development beyond the Zeitgeist that we typically study in a fashion curriculum." - Fashion, Society & Popular Culture

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This ground-breaking study explores the relationships and interactions between technology, dress and fashion and how these have changed throughout human history.

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