List of Illustrations
Introduction
Denise Amy Baxter (University of North Texas, USA)
Chapter 1 - Textiles
Philip A. Sykas (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK)
Chapter 2 - Production and Distribution
Susan Hiner (Vassar College, USA)
Chapter 3 - The Body
Annette Becker (Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, France)
Chapter 4 - Belief
Denise Baxter (University of North Texas, USA)
Chapter 5 - Gender and Sexuality
Ariel Beaujot (University of Toronto, USA)
Chapter 6 - Status
Vivienne Richmond (Goldsmiths University, UK)
Chapter 7 - Ethnicity
Sarah Cheang (Royal College of Art, UK)
Chapter 8 - Visual Representations
Justine de Young (The Museum at FIT, USA)
Chapter 9 - Literary Representations
Heidi Brevik-Zender (University of California, Riverside, USA)
Notes
Bibliography
Notes on Contributors
Index

Denise Amy Baxter is Associate Professor of Art History and Women's Studies affiliate faculty member at the University of North Texas, USA.

During the 19th and early 20th centuries the production of dress shifted dramatically from being predominantly hand-crafted in small quantities to machine-manufactured in bulk. The increasing democratization of appearances made new fashions more widely available, but at the same time made the need to differentiate social rank seem more pressing.
In this age of empire, the coding of class, gender and race was frequently negotiated through dress in complex ways, from fashionable dress which restricted or exaggerated the female body to liberating reform dress, from self-defining black dandies to the oppressions and resistances of slave dress.
Richly illustrated with over 100 images and drawing on a plethora of visual, textual and object sources, A Cultural History of Dress and Fashion in the Age of Empire presents essays on textiles, production and distribution, the body, belief, gender and sexuality, status, ethnicity, and visual and literary representations to illustrate the diversity and cultural significance of dress and fashion in the period.