Three-Piece Suit and Modern Masculinity
Regular price
€65.99
14 days return policy
Shipping & Delivery
A01=David Kuchta
Author_David Kuchta
capitalism
Category=JBSF2
Category=NHD
character
chivalry
clothing
consumption
costume history
early modern england
english masculinity
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
fashion
fashion and clothing
gender
gender studies
history
king charles ii
manliness
masculine
masculine attire
masculine character
masculine manners
masculinity
mens fashion
menswear
modern england
monarchy
moral authority
nonfiction
patriarchy
public character
public man
reputation
self fashioning
self made man
success
suit
three piece suit
Product details
- ISBN 9780520214934
- Weight: 635g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 21 May 2002
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
In 1666, King Charles II felt it necessary to reform Englishmen's dress by introducing a fashion that developed into the three-piece suit. We learn what inspired this royal revolution in masculine attire - and the reasons for its remarkable longevity - in David Kuchta's engaging and handsomely illustrated account. Between 1550 and 1850, Kuchta says, English upper- and middle-class men understood their authority to be based in part upon the display of masculine character: how they presented themselves in public and demonstrated their masculinity helped define their political legitimacy, moral authority, and economic utility. Much has been written about the ways political culture, religion, and economic theory helped shape ideals and practices of masculinity. Kuchta allows us to see the process working in reverse, in that masculine manners and habits of consumption in a patriarchal society contributed actively to people's understanding of what held England together.
Kuchta shows not only how the ideology of modern English masculinity was a self-consciously political and public creation but also how such explicitly political decisions and values became internalized, personalized, and naturalized into everyday manners and habits.
David Kuchta is Adjunct Professor of History at the University of New England.
