Fashion and Narrative in Victorian Popular Literature: Double Threads (Routledge Studies in Nineteenth Century Literature)

"We know that way we dress says a lot about us. It's drilled into us by our parents as children, as adults throughout our working lives, and eternally from the culture surrounding us. Our dress tells the outside world of the culture and era we come from to our social status within that culture. Our dress can be telling of our political views, religious beliefs, sexuality and countless other identifying traits that we can keep hidden or show to the world by our choice of what to wear when heading venturing out. This was absolutely true, famously so, in the Victorian Era in which men and women alike wore their status on their often lavish, embellished sleeves. In her new book, Dr. Madeleine Seyes explores Victorian culture through the lens of fashion in her new book, Double Threads: Fashion and Victorian Popular Literature, which sits at the intersection of the fields of Victorian literary studies, dress and material cultural studies, feminist literary criticism, and gendifer and sexuality studies."--Provided by publisher "The way we dress says a lot about us. The importance of dress is impressed upon us as children, and reinforced by the culture surrounding us. Our dress speaks of the culture and era we come from and our social status within that culture. Our political views, religious beliefs, sexuality and countless other identifying traits can be hidden or revealed to the world by the choice of what to wear. This was absolutely true, famously so, in the Victorian era in which men and women alike wore their status and their subjectivity on their lavishly embellished sleeves. Dr. Madeleine Seys explores Victorian literary culture through the lens of fashion in her new book, Fashion and Narrative in Victorian Popular Literature: Double Threads, which sits at the intersection of the fields of Victorian literary studies, dress and material cultural studies, feminist literary criticism, and gender and sexuality studies"--Provided by publisher. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Acknowledgements 10 Introduction: Sartorial and Narrative Threads 12 1 White Muslin 42 2 Silk and Velvet 75 3 The Paisley Shawl 109 4 Tweed and Wool 143 Conclusion: Refashioning and Rewriting the Victorian Heroine 178 Bibliography 186 Index 198 Double Threads: Fashion and Victorian Popular Literature is the first study to explore how fashion and dress function in the construction and representation of femininity and female sexuality in British popular literature from 1860 to 1900.