Clothes (The Art of Living)

145 Pages·2016·0.82 MB·English

by  John Harvey

Clothes
THE ART OF LIVING SERIES
Series Editor: Mark Vernon
From Plato to Bertrand Russell philosophers have engaged wide
audiences on matters of life and death. T e Art of Living series aims
to open up philosophy’s riches to a wider public once again. Taking
its lead from the concerns of the ancient Greek philosophers, the
series asks the question “How should we live?”. Authors draw on
their own personal refl ections to write philosophy that seeks to
enrich, stimulate and challenge the reader’s thoughts about their
own life. In a world where people are searching for new insights and
sources of meaning, T e Art of Living series showcases the value of
philosophy and reveals it as a great untapped resource for our age.
Published
Clothes John Harvey
Deception Ziyad Marar
Fame Mark Rowlands
Hunger Raymond Tallis
Illness Havi Carel
Pets Erica Fudge
Sport Colin McGinn
Wellbeing Mark Vernon
Work Lars Svendsen
Forthcoming
Death Todd May
Middle Age Chris Hamilton
Sex Seiriol Morgan
Clothes
John Harvey
acumen
© John Harvey, 2008
T is book is copyright under the Berne Convention.
No reproduction without permission.
All rights reserved.
First published in 2008 by Acumen
Acumen Publishing Limited
Stocksfi eld Hall
Stocksfi eld
NE43 7TN
www.acumenpublishing.co.uk
isbn: 978-1-84465-150-4
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.
Designed and typeset by Kate Williams, Swansea.
Printed and bound by Biddles Ltd, King’s Lynn.
For Julietta,
Ekaterini,
Julietta and Eleni
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
T e incident in Stubbylee Park 1
1 Why can’t we trust our clothes? 3
2 On trend, off trend: fashion and freedom 21
3 What shall I wear, who shall I be? 35
4 Clothes and the body within the clothes 49
5 Team colours 71
6 Couturiers and objets d’art 95
Conclusion: dream clothes and future clothes 117
Further reading 127
References 129
Index 131
vii
Acknowledgements
I want to thank warmly Cally Blackman, Alexandra MacCulloch
and Sanda Miller for the expert acuity, and the helpfulness, of their
comments on the manuscript of this book. Clothes are necessarily
of interest to many people, and in my own thoughts on the subject I
am indebted I know to very many scholars, students, friends – here
I shall simply thank my Cambridge colleague Nigel Spivey for his
advice on dress and undress in the classical world, and Joe Keogh of
Niagara University for the fascinating pages he sent to me on Mark
Twain’s late love for white clothes. Above all I am grateful to my
wife, Julietta Harvey, for her generosity with comments and ideas at
every stage, and also for her lively insights over a longer period both
into clothes and also – the two are closely tied – into life.
ix