"Pull out a five-dollar bill and you will see Thomas Jefferson wearing a fashionable wig of his day". Okay, I did and found Abraham Lincoln there. Old Tom is on two and isn't bewiged. That portait's there since 1869. I wonder where did that double whammy come from, Sir?

This book was an engrossing read and has sparked a number of interesting debates in my immediate circle. This book is about society rather style. This is one of the few places that discusses the intersection of race and gender relations with clothing.

It discusses the causes behind phenomena that have long seemed mysterious to me - like, for instance, why is women's fashion so different in variety, conspicuousness and cost than men's fashion? Did you know that dressmaking and fashion was exclusively a male profession in the past? So, how did it become associated with women - and vacuity? This book tells the historic context for those transitions.

There is a thought-provoking section about the fashion context of the civil rights movement. The author offers his opinion in an even-keeled manner. As a woman in a male-dominated academic discipline, I was grateful for this book's perspective on women's fashion and its clash with the culture of dressing-down in academia and tech. It's been a couple of weeks since I finished this book, and it still feels like I'm reading it because it's on my mind. ( )

Fairly dense text, highly informative with many historical tidbits, good insight into the intersection of history and fashion