Deirdre Clemente

Fashion Forward:
A Cultural History of the Modern American Wardrobe

Little more than a century ago, everyone adhered to sartorial standards held in place by old-school ideas of race, class, and gender. Men wore bowler hats on the street. Women wore wool stockings on the beach. These days, anyone can wear fuzzy pajamas on the airplane. 

Fashion Forward tells the story of how and why Americans dress the way they do. 

 In twelve, fast-paced chapters based upon specific historical events, I show that our beloved yoga pants and logo-emblazoned sweatshirts are born of the revolutionary social, cultural, and technological changes of the 20th century.  Beginning with the 1897 invention of the electric cutting knife and concluding with the opening of H&M on Fifth Avenue in 2000, Fashion Forward documents the development of the American fashion industry and the rise of our individualized wardrobes.

 Written in a clear, accessible style, Fashion Forward is a work of scholarship based on years of archival research.  I use both documents and material culture, including: Chamber of Commerce papers; business records of manufacturers and department stores; oral histories; and the garments themselves—printed rayon culottes, silk beach pajamas, and wool jersey swimsuits.

Fashion Forward puts what we wear at the very heart of American history.