Dandyism in the Age of Revolution by Elizabeth Amann

Dandyism in the Age of Revolution by Elizabeth Amann

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Summary

From the color of a politician's tie, to exorbitantly costly haircuts, to the size of an American flag pin adorning a lapel, it's no secret that style has political meaning. The author shows that in France, England, and Spain, daring dress became a way of taking a stance toward the social and political upheaval of the period.

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Dandyism in the Age of Revolution by Elizabeth Amann

From the color of a politician's tie, to exorbitantly costly haircuts, to the size of an American flag pin adorning a lapel, it's no secret that style has political meaning. And there was no time in history when the politics of fashion was more fraught than during the French Revolution. In the 1790s almost any article of clothing could be scrutinized for evidence of one's political affiliation. A waistcoat with seventeen buttons, for example, could be a sign of counterrevolution - a reference to Louis XVII - and earn its wearer a trip to the guillotine. In Dandyism in the Age of Revolution, Elizabeth Amann shows that in France, England, and Spain, daring dress became a way of taking a stance toward the social and political upheaval of the period. France is the centerpiece of the story, not just because of the significance of the Revolution but also because of the speed with which its politics and fashions shifted. Dandyism in France represented an attempt to recover a political center after the extremism of the Terror, while in England and Spain it offered a way to reflect upon the turmoil across the Channel and Pyrenees. From the Hair Powder Act, which required users of the product to purchase a permit, to the political implications of the feather in Yankee Doodle's hat, Amann aims to revise our understanding of the origins of modern dandyism and to recover the political context from which it emerged.
"Dandyism in the Age of Revolution sweeps aside received notions of the dandy as a disengaged fop to recover the figure's political and politicized originsWell researched and historiographically informed, this book is leavened with the sort of wordplay that dandies themselves would have appreciated." (Laura Mason, Johns Hopkins University)"
Elizabeth Amann is professor in the Department of Literary Studies at Ghent University, Belgium. She is the author of Importing Madame Bovary: The Politics of Adultery.
SKU Unavailable
ISBN 13 9780226187259
ISBN 10 022618725X
Title Dandyism in the Age of Revolution
Author Elizabeth Amann
Condition Unavailable
Publisher The University of Chicago Press
Year published 2015-01-07
Number of pages 288
Cover note Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.