Bibliogr.. Index.

pt. 1 : Towards a history of clothing -- Clothing or costume? -- The Quicherat effect and after -- History, fashion and clothing systems from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries -- pt. 2 : The economy of wardrobes -- Towards an understanding of the Parisian clothing system -- The hierarchy of appearances in Paris from Louis XIV to Louis XVI -- The contents of wardrobes from the classical age to the revolution -- The invention of linen -- The triumph of appearances : nobilities and clothes -- The discipline of appearances : the prestige of uniform -- pt. 3 : Producing, selling and stealing : the distribution of appearances -- From crafts to customers : the Parisian clothing economy -- From crafts to customers : tailors, dressmakers, linen-drapers and fashion merchants -- From theft to resale : another aspect of the clothes trade -- Caring for clothes : from propriety to cleanliness -- pt. 4 : Truth and the mask -- Clothes in the novel -- Rational and healthy clothes -- Fashions in reason and reasons for fashion : the birth of the fashion press in France -- The culture of appearances : consumption and morality

Newly available in paperback, this contribution to cultural history is a study of dress in France in the seventeeth and eighteenth centuries