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""Meticulous and engaging." --"Times Higher Education Supplement
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The British have always been concerned about accent, appearance and class, but at no time during the twentieth century was 'keeping up appearances' more important than during the 1920s and 1930s. From the impecunious youth anxious to create a favourable impression at the local tennis club dance to female office workers advised by the Daily Mail that women in business kept 'their position partly, if not chiefly, by appearance', we peer into the intimate lives and anxieties of the middle classes as they dressed to impress. Choices were influenced as much by the advent of mass production, economic stringency, snobbery and the influence of America, as by personal aesthetics. Seemingly insignificant items such as ties, braces, gloves and hats, could convey a lack of breeding if worn incorrectly. This engagingly written and illustrated book explores the social mores behind one of society's most popular activities, and reveals not only how we dressed but why.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A cracking book. Beautifully crafted, elegantly written and packed full of witty and unusual illustrations. Horwood offers an important social and cultural reading of the fashion codes of the age. Far from a frivolity, Horwood reveals that clothing was all for many a middle-class soul in interwar Britain. It is clear from the attention to detail that extensive research lies beneath this book, and that learning is deftly revealed within the text. With a light touch Horwood uncovers the priorities and anxieties that nestled in the wardrobes of the middle class. After reading Horwood's analysis one is utterly persuaded by Vogue's advice of 1931 to 'shun the cheap and shoddy as you would a contagious disease and ... sink your all in a few perfect clothes.'
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A vivid, witty, original and above all highly enjoyable recreation of dress, manners and social codes between the wars. Keeping Up Appearances is a goldmine of new and suggestive information. Horwood uncovers the world of the discreet dress agencies, which promised nearly new gowns by post with"courtesy, privacy and exclusiveness" guaranteed; the secretaries whose georgette blouses revealed far too much "cami"; the female professor of history at the L.S.E. who flew to Paris to buy a dress every time she published an article; and the unfortunate policeman who was shunned on a boating trip for wearing the wrong togs.
The study is much broader than conventional fashion history, using clothes to cast a search light on middle-class culture. Keeping Up Appearances marshalls copious evidence on the link between dress, class and decorum. A spruce yet suitable appearance was all important. As Fashions for All, 1925 warned 'many a "marriage will not take place" notice has been traced back to a dusty black velvet frock.' Horwood stresses the importance of correctness and propriety over voguishness for the well-upholstered, mature middle classes. As Ethyl Campbell, a London buyer said in 1939 "A woman should have a fresh wholesome appearance, turned out in such a way that it subtly conveyed, without investigation, that her underclothing was spotless."
The illustrations, especially the family photographs, are a delight. A rattling good read.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A brilliant evocation of bygone fashions and attitudes. Some of the male heresies were - brown shoes in town, wearing the wrong school tie; but for fashionable women, life became more difficult when mass-produced clothes began to appear in the thirties and 'it was easier to look smart when everyone from duchess to mill girl wore exactly the same sort of clothes.' (Picture Post). This was a light-hearted read but with serious social implications. I couldn't put it down.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Keeping Up Appearances
A real reminder that `Fashion` is temporary but `Class` is permanent.This review of fashion and class between the wars gives a broad view of the even broader gulf between the... Read more
Published on 30 July 2009 by A. P. Heard
Clothes maketh the man ... or woman!
An excellent book for anyone interested in clothes and social history. This book tells of an age when clothes really did matter, what the various classes wore and even if they wore... Read more
Published on 8 April 2006 by Mrs. M. G. Powling
Interesting angle, but shaky on details
This book is a good overview of the social significance of clothes between the wars, based on Mass Observation material, interviews and contemporary documents. Read more
Published on 3 May 2005
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