Colors in Fashion

Color speaks a powerful cultural language conveying political sexual and economic messages that throughout history have revealed how we relate to ourselves and our world. This ground-breaking compilation is the first to investigate how color in fashionable and ceremonial dress has played a significant social role indicating acceptance and exclusion convention and subversion.. From the use of white in pioneering feminism to the penchant for black in post-war France and from mystical scarlet broadcloth to the horrors of arsenic-laden green fashion this publication demonstrates that color in dress is as mutable nuanced and varied as color itself. Divided into four thematic parts – solidarity power innovation and desire – each section highlights the often violent emotional histories of color in dress across geographical temporal and cultural boundaries. Underlying today's relaxed attitude to color lies a chromatic complexity that speaks of wars migrations and economics. . While acknowledging the importance that technology has played in the development of new dyes the chapters explore color as a catalyst for technical innovation that continues to inspire designers artists and performers. Bringing together cutting-edge contributions from leading scholars it is essential reading for academics of fashion textiles design cultural studies and art history.