The 1950s were the golden years of haute couture, captured by iconic images of glamorous models wearing dramatic clothes. Yet the real women who wore these clothes adapted them to suit their own tastes, altered them to extend their life, and often could not bear to part with them long after the dresses had outlived their use. This gorgeously illustrated book demonstrates why so many of these designs are still in existence and why we are fascinated by them fifty years later.

Couture and Commerce investigates how and why postwar couture fashion was important in its own day. The...

How does a country dress itself? From Montreal's 'Retail Mile, ' to Ontario's millinery trade, to how war and television can effect the garment industry or whether tailoring can make a cultural impact, Alexandra Palmer gathers together some of the top curators, designers, fashion writers, historians, and artists in the country to create a truly dynamic and thought-provoking collection of essays.

Controversial and unconventional, Fashion: A Canadian Perspective challenges readers to consider aspects of Canadian identity in terms of what its citizenship has chosen to wear for...

Second-hand fashion has a history as old as the production of clothing itself, but until recently it was given little consideration. Used clothes represent the largest numbers of existing garments but until recently they were not perceived as serious fashion items. However, this has changed dramatically with the rise of vintage web sites, value clothing chains, and the fashion media's perpetuation of the idea that secondhand clothes can be recycled into avant-garde "cool." This book not only shows how important used clothing has become but also what role it plays in culture and history....