Dressing for Austerity

Geraldine Biddle-Perry is a fashion and cultural historian. She lectures in fashion and design history & theory at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsIntroductionAusterity, Aspiration and AffluenceChapter 1Austerity by DesignFashioning a New JerusalemChapter 2Austerity in TransitionDemobilization/RemobilizationChapter 3Austerity by ConsensusDemocratizing DesireChapter 4Lessons in AusterityStyling Ideal CitizenshipChapter 5Austerity and AffluenceAnother Look at the New LookChapter 6Austerity and AspirationA Boy, A Girl and A BikeConclusionAffluence by DesignThe Autonomy of AusterityIndex

'Dressing for Austerity is so much more than a history of fashion in post-war Britain. It shows the potential of an approach that connects dress to changes in politics, culture, manufacturing technologies, leisure and forms of citizenship - this is a significant contribution to the wider history of the late 1940s and the way that the period shaped consumption cultures, identities and social attitudes in the following decades.' - David Gilbert, Professor of Urban and Historical Geography, Royal Holloway University of London