A01=Elizabeth Wilson
Author_Elizabeth Wilson
Category=JBCC2
Category=JBCC3
dress
dress history
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
fashion
fashion studies
fashion theory
forthcoming
modernity
Product details
- ISBN 9781350399730
- Weight: 860g
- Dimensions: 158 x 236mm
- Publication Date: 11 Jun 2026
- Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
When Adorned in Dreams was first published in 1985, Angela Carter described the book as ‘the best I have read on the subject, bar none.’
From haute couture to haberdashery, and ‘deviant’ dress to Dior, Elizabeth Wilson traces the social and cultural history of fashion and its complex relationship to modernity. From the ‘dress reform’ movement to certain strands of feminism, Wilson delights in the power of fashion to mark out identity - or subvert it.
Explore topics including fashion and city life, feminism and fashion, and oppositional dress in this authoritative scholarly text on fashion’s pivotal role in modern society.
Elizabeth Wilson's writing career began in the ‘underground’ magazines of the early 1970s, (Frendz, Red Rag, Spare Rib, Come Together) before she became an academic. She's written for the Guardian and her non-fiction books include The Sphinx in the City (1992) (shortlisted for the Manchester Odd Fellows Prize), Bohemians (2000) and Love Game (2014) (long listed for the William Hill sportswriting prize), as well as six crime novels, including War Damage (2009) and The Girl in Berlin (2012) (long-listed for the Golden Dagger Award).
