Pre-war fashion was a matter of circumstance, and post-war fashion was a matter of Americans choosing to follow France's sartorial example to avoid being similar to England. The clothes for men and women during the war were still as complex and multi-layered as ever. This book contains anecdotes, advertisements for, and descriptions of clothing worn by servants, slaves, and more wealthy women in the American Colonies/United States from the time of the French & Indian War to the end of the American Revolution. Gowns, stays, stomachers, petticoats, hoops, stockings, shoes, gloves, mitts, hairstyles, wigs, hair-powdering, jewelry, etc. are described. The patriotic effort to encourage the American production of fabric and clothing is discussed.

Pre-war fashion was a matter of circumstance, and post-war fashion was a matter of Americans choosing to follow France's sartorial example to avoid being similar to England. The clothes for men and women during the war were still as complex and multi-layered as ever. This book contains anecdotes, advertisements for, and descriptions of clothing worn by servants, slaves, and more wealthy women in the American Colonies/United States from the time of the French & Indian War to the end of the American Revolution. Gowns, stays, stomachers, petticoats, hoops, stockings, shoes, gloves, mitts, hairstyles, wigs, hair-powdering, jewelry, etc. are described. The patriotic effort to encourage the American production of fabric and clothing is discussed.

Nearly two hundred portraits and hundreds of drawings highlight a study of styles of clothing worn by men, women, and children in colonial and Revolutionary America.

A New York Times Best Art Book of 2019 “A riveting book . . . few stones are left unturned.”—Roberta Smith’s “Top Art Books of 2019,” The New York Times This fascinating and enlightening study of the tie-on pocket combines materiality and gender to provide new insight into the social history of women’s everyday lives—from duchesses and country gentry to prostitutes and washerwomen—and to explore their consumption practices, sociability, mobility, privacy, and identity. A wealth of evidence reveals unexpected facets of the past, bringing women’s stories into intimate focus. “What particularly interests Burman and Fennetaux is the way in which women of all classes have historically used these tie-on pockets as a supplementary body part to help them negotiate their way through a world that was not built to suit them.”—Kathryn Hughes, The Guardian “A brilliant book.”—Ulinka Rublack, Times Literary Supplement

The Politics of Fashion in Eighteenth-Century America