Book Review
Fashion, Society and the First World War: International Perspectives
Abstract
If imagining The First World War conjures up images of trenches, poppies, and uniforms, prepare to add showgirl feathers, Alsatian hairbows, and “war crinolines” to the visual landscape. That is not to say that uniforms are unimportant, but Fashion, Society and the First World War: International Perspectives, edited by Maude Bass-Krueger, Hayley Edwards-Dujardin, and Sophie Kurkdjian, is a text that explores a variety of ways in which fashion industries and dress practices were affected by World War I among different nations and classes. Although this time period had long been overlooked in fashion history, this book contributes to growing scholarship on the topic and builds on the prior work of Bass-Krueger and Kurkdjian, whose book French Fashion, Women, and the First World War was published in 2019 following exhibitions on French fashion and World War I at the Bibliothèque Forney in Paris and Bard Graduate Center in New York