1. The early ways. Dress versus fashion ; Materials for ordinary clothes ; The role of the tailor ; Where to shop in Restoration times -- 2. Living in the late seventeenth century. The account book of Sarah Fell ; A traveller's view of textiles ; The importance of appearances ; A ballad view of dress -- 3. Moving with the times. A suit for all ; Restoration women more at ease ; Wigs for men -- 4. Eighteenth century variety. Boom in the wool trade ; Details in dress ; The London shops -- 5. The beginnings of the industrial revolution. New inventions and the cotton industry ; A dress revolution for ordinary people ; Shopping for a country parsonage ; The new simplicity ; The shawl -- 6. Doing the sewing. The role of women at home ; From the mantua-maker to making do ; The reaction against home sewing ; Secondhand clothing -- 7. Cleaning and dyeing. Washing day ; Dyeing and colour problems -- 8. Gradual revolution in the nineteenth century. The sewing machine ; Mass-production for men ; Slow reform for women ; Sweated labour ; The new uniformity
Summary
A description of the everyday dress worn by the English between 1650 and 1900