{"title":"Elizabeth L Block","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"dressing-up-book-elizabeth-l-block-9780262045841","title":"Dressing Up","description":"\u003cb\u003eHow wealthy American women--as consumers and as influencers--helped shape French couture of the late nineteenth century; lavishly illustrated.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFrench fashion of the late nineteenth century is known for its allure, its ineffable chic--think of John Singer Sargent's Madame X and her scandalously slipping strap. For Parisian couturiers and their American customers, it was also serious business. In \u003ci\u003eDressing Up\u003c\/i\u003e, Elizabeth Block examines the couturiers' influential clientele--wealthy American women who bolstered the French fashion industry with a steady stream of orders from the United States. Countering the usual narrative of the designer as solo creative genius, Block shows that these women--as high-volume customers and as pre-Internet influencers--were active participants in the era's transnational fashion system.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBlock describes the arrival of \u003ci\u003enouveau riche\u003c\/i\u003e Americans on the French fashion scene, joining European royalty, French socialites, and famous actresses on the client rosters of the best fashion houses--Charles Frederick Worth, Doucet, and F lix, among others. She considers the mutual dependence of couture and coiffure; the participation of couturiers in international expositions (with mixed financial results); the distinctive shopping practices of American women, which ranged from extensive transatlantic travel to quick trips downtown to the department store; the performance of conspicuous consumption at balls and soir es; the impact of American tariffs on the French fashion industry; and the emergence of smuggling, theft, and illicit copying of French fashions in the American market as the middle class emulated the preferences of the rich. Lavishly illustrated, with vibrant images of dresses, portraits, and fashion plates, \u003ci\u003eDressing Up\u003c\/i\u003e reveals the power of American women in French couture.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWinner of the Aileen Ribeiro Grant of the Association of Dress Historians; an Association for Art History grant; and a Pasold Research Fund grant.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49741423509777,"sku":"NGR9780262045841","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50263540760849,"sku":"CIN0262045842VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51882736091409,"sku":"CIN0262045842G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":53112887247121,"sku":"NIN9780262045841","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0262045842.jpg?v=1751420676"},{"product_id":"beyond-vanity-book-elizabeth-l-block-9780262049054","title":"Beyond Vanity","description":"From the award-winning author of Dressing Up, a riveting and diverse history of women s hair that reestablishes the cultural power of hairdressing in nineteenth-century America.  In the nineteenth century, the complex cultural meaning of hair was not only significant, but it could also impact one s place in society. After the Civil War, hairdressing was also a growing profession and the hair industry a mainstay of local, national, and international commerce. In Beyond Vanity, Elizabeth Block expands the nascent field of hair studies by restoring women s hair as a cultural site of meaning in the early United States. With a special focus on the places and spaces in which the hair industry operated, Block argues that the importance of hair has been overlooked due to its ephemerality as well as its misguided association with frivolity and triviality. As Block clarifies, hairdressing was anything but frivolous.   Using methods of visual and material culture studies informed by concepts of cultural geography, Block identifies multiple substantive categories of place and space within which hair acted. These include the preparatory places of the bedroom, hair salon, and enslaved peoples  quarters, as well as the presentation places of parties, fairs, stages, and workplaces. Here are also the untold stories of business owners, many of whom were women of color, and the creators of trendsetting styles like the pompadour and Gibson Girl bouffant. Block s ground-breaking study examines how race and racism affected who participated in the presentation and business of hair, and according to which standards. The result of looking closely at the places and spaces of hair is a reconfiguration that allows a new understanding of the cultural power of hair in the period.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50228150305041,"sku":"GOR013893669","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":50275651977489,"sku":"NGR9780262049054","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50726261424401,"sku":"CIN0262049058VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50815872631057,"sku":"CIN0262049058G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51000574411025,"sku":"NIN9780262049054","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0262049058.jpg?v=1751258920"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-elizabeth-l-block.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}