Description
Book SynopsisThrough the lens of fashion and style, Dressing for the Culture Wars guides us through the competing political and social movements of the culture war. Betty Luther Hillman illustrates how self-presentation influenced the culture and politics of the era and carried connotations similarly linked to the broader political challenges of the time.
Trade Review"Given its impressive sweep, scholarly rigor, and utter originality, Hillman's monograph is all the more commendable for opening up fresh areas of investigation."—Gretchen Lemke-Santangelo,
American Historical Review"
Dressing for the Culture Wars extends our understanding of the social impact of fashion by providing an extensive analysis of its role in recent political and social debates."—Diana Crane,
Journal of American History"A valuable addition to the reading list for any course on the history of the 1960s and 1970s. Given that so many of the issues and conflicts surrounding identity and self-presentation remain unresolved, Hillman's work is equally relevant to anyone teaching or researching contemporary political activists and organization."—Jo Paoletti,
Pacific Historical Review“In this engaging book, Luther Hillman shows that performative self-presentation played a critical part in the social change of the 1960s and 1970s. Activists debated the transgressive styles of hippies, Black Power militants, feminists, and drag queens. The visual politics of everyday dress shocked the mainstream, shaped the fashion industry, challenged the law, and triggered conservative backlash. Compelling, original, and smartly argued, this book rewrites the history of an era and reminds us that fashion is not frivolity.”—Joanne Meyerowitz, author of
How Sex Changed: A History of Transsexuality in the United States “Betty Luther Hillman has written a wonderfully engaging and thoroughly researched study of the politics of style and self-presentation during the tumultuous decades of the 1960s and 1970s. . . . Luther Hillman carefully grounds her social and cultural analysis in the historical, political, and economic context of [that time]. Given the popular interest in the fashion and politics of that era, her book will no doubt attract the interest of students as well as the general public.”—Judy Tzu-Chun Wu, author of R
adicals on the Road: Internationalism, Orientalism, and Feminism during the Vietnam Era Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Significance of Style in American Culture and Politics
1. “You Can’t Tell the Girls from the Boys”: Changing Styles among American Youths, 1964–1968
2. “What to Wear to the Revolution”: Self-Presentation Politics in Social Movement Activism
3. “No Woman Can Be Free . . . Until She Loses Her Femininity”: The Politics of Self-Presentation in Feminist Activism
4. “Wearing a Dress Is a Revolutionary Act”: Political Drag and Self-Presentation in the Gay Liberation Movement
5. “Everyone Should Be Accustomed to Seeing Long Hair on Men by Now”: Style and Popular Culture in the Late 1960s to 1970s
6. “Ours Should Not Be an Effort to Achieve a Unisex Society”: Legal Regulations of Personal Presentation in the Workplace
Epilogue: The Politics of Style in Retrospect
Notes
Bibliography
Index
