Description
Book SynopsisIn this pioneering study Vivienne Richmond reveals the importance of dress to the nineteenth-century English poor, who valued clothing not only for its practical utility, but also as a central element in the creation and assertion of collective and individual identities.
Trade Review'Vivienne Richmond demonstrates the power of clothing in the lives of the working and indigent poor of nineteenth-century England: children, women and men. This is an innovative exploration of clothing cultures, both those crafted by individuals and those imposed by state and institutional authorities. Subtle and insightful, Richmond brings new perspectives to this important topic.' Beverly Lemire, University of Alberta
'Vivienne Richmond tells a very sad historical story, about the bodily and psychological misery of a large proportion of the population in nineteenth-century Britain; but she is not afraid to be wry, or ironic, or outraged and sometimes very funny, when appropriate.' Carolyn Steedman, University of Warwick
Table of ContentsIntroduction: identifying the poor, locating their clothes; 1. Setting the standard: working-class dress; 2. 'Frankly a mystery': budgeting for clothes; 3. 'Poverty busied itself': buying clothes; 4. 'Woman's best weapon': needlework and home-made clothing; 5. 'The struggle for respectability'; 6. The sense of self; 7. 'The bowels of compassion': clothing and the Poor Law; 8. 'An urgent desire to clothe them': ladies' clothing charities; 9. 'We have nothing but our clothes': charity schools and servants; 10. 'The greatest stigma and disgrace': lunatic asylums, workhouses and prisons; Conclusion: no finery; Bibliography.
