Focusing on examples in British history from the 18th century to the present day, whilst drawing on references to Europe and the USA, Fashion and Class examines the meaning and evolution of the term 'class' from its origins as an essentially Marxist definition through to modern interpretations. In what ways do changing notions of class correspond with key developments in the history of fashion? Did industrialization and technological change bring about a degree of 'class levelling' within fashion, or did it in fact intensify class antagonism? And to what extent does modern mass...

At the beginning of the Victorian period, most of England's population lived in the countryside; by its end, the balance had tipped towards living in urban and suburban spaces. In the context of this rapidly changing world, Rachel Worth explores the ways in which the clothing of the rural working classes was represented visually in paintings and photographs and by the literary sources of documentary, autobiography, and fiction, as well as by the particular pattern of survival and collection by museums of garments of rural provenance.

Rachel Worth explores ways in which clothing and...