Description
Book SynopsisVanessa Brown is a Senior Lecturer responsible for Design Culture and Context in the School of Art and Design (Department of Fashion, Knit and Textiles) at Nottingham Trent University, UK.
Trade ReviewBrown delivers a fascinating explication of an iconic fashion accoutrement: sunglasses. She discusses how they have served as a popular cultural signifier, particularly since the 1920s, and explains their purportedly ‘cool’ quality … This short but insightful volume explores the influence of urban developments, the early turn to goggles and then eventually to Ray-Ban aviators, and the ultimate evolution of ‘modern cool.’ … According to Brown, sunglasses also were linked with African Americans, the femme fatale, white hipsters, the Beats, and late modernity … Likening shades to Breton’s top hat and Robinson’s bowler, Brown offers that they stand as ‘the ultimate symbol of the age.’ A thoroughly intriguing account.
Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. -- R. C. Cottrell, California State University, Chico * CHOICE *
An original contribution to the field ... The book gives an effective discussion of the various meanings of sunglasses as signifiers and draws some interesting examples from film and photography. * Journal of Design History *
Table of Contents1. Introduction 2. Sunglasses and Modernity: Why do Modern Eyes Need Shading? 3. Sunglasses and Speed 4. Sunglasses and the Hi-tech Body 5. From Sunlight to Fashbulbs: Sunglasses, Success, Celebrity and Glamour 6. Sunglasses and the Other – Race, Gender, the Blind and the Outlaw 7. The Spread of Outsider Cool: 1950s – Present 8. Sunglasses and the Absence of Meaning 9. Conclusion 10. Timeline (1750 to 1960s) Bibliography Index
