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Book
Author Steele, Valerie, author

Title A queer history of fashion : from the closet to the catwalk / [edited by Valerie Steele]
Published New Haven : Yale University Press in association with the Fashion Institute of Technology New York, [2013]
New Haven, Connecticut : Yale University Press, [2013]

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Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 WATERFT ART&ARCH  746.92 Ste/Qho  AVAILABLE
Description 248 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 27 cm
Contents A queer history of fashion : from the closet to the catwalk / Valerie Steele -- Conspicuous waist : queer dress in the "long eighteenth century" / Peter McNeil -- Couture as queer auto/biography / Christopher Breward -- Queerly visible : gay men, dress, and style 1960-2012 / Shaun Cole -- What does a lesbian look like? / Elizabeth Wilson -- Born this way : lesbian style since the eighties / Vicki Karaminas -- Queer activist fashion / Johnathan D. Katz
Summary "Although it has long been recognized that gay people appear to have a special relationship with fashion and style, this will be the first book to look at the history of fashion through a queer lens and to explore the "gayness" or "queerness" of fashion. The book will explore the importance of gay men as fashion designers from the 1930s to the present, including the contributions to fashion history of gay designers such as Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, and Alexander McQueen. Bisexual and lesbian designers and other fashion professionals will also be considered. In addition, the book will document the creativity and resistance to oppression expressed by LGBTQ (lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender-queer) sub-cultural styles, which have often transgressed sex and gender norms. Finally, the book will explore the influence of a queer sensibility, queer aesthetic(s), and queer sub-cultural styles on fashion over the past century"--Provided by publisher
"From Christian Dior to Yves Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen, many of the greatest fashion designers of the past century have been gay. Fashion and style have played an important role within the LGBTQ community, as well, even as early as the 18th century. This provocative book looks at the history of fashion through a queer lens, examining high fashion as a site of gay cultural production and exploring the aesthetic sensibilities and unconventional dress of LGBTQ people, especially since the 1950s, to demonstrate the centrality of gay culture to the creation of modern fashion. Contributions by some of the world's most acclaimed scholars of gay history and fashion - including Christopher Breward, Shaun Cole, Vicki Karaminas, Jonathan D. Katz, Peter McNeil, and Elizabeth Wilson - investigate topics such as the context in which key designers' lives and works form part of a broader "gay" history; the "archeology" of queer attire back to the homosexual underworld of 18th-century Europe; and the influence of LGBTQ subcultural styles from the trouser suits worn by Marlene Dietrich (which inspired Yves Saint Laurent's "Le Smoking") to the iconography of leather. Sumptuous illustrations include both fashion photography and archival imagery"--Provided by publisher
Notes Published on the occasion of an exhibition held at The Museum at FIT
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references
Audience Technical/Vocational/TAFE, Tertiary/Undergraduate, General
Subject Clothing and dress -- Psychological aspects.
Clothing and dress -- Social aspects -- History.
Fashion design -- History.
Fashion designers -- Biography.
Fashion -- Social aspects -- History.
Gay culture.
Gay men -- Biography.
Genre/Form Biographies.
Author Steele, Valerie, editor of compilation
LC no. 2013016219
ISBN 0300196709 (hardback)
9780300196702 (hardback)