Wendy Parkin

Fashioning the Body Politic: Dress, Gender, Citizenship Wendy Parkin

Marc Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index. Publisher Marketing: Fashion is often thought of as a matter of personal taste, completely unconnected with the public domain of political life and citizenship. Overturning this perspective, this book reveals that, from the French Revolution to post-revolutionary China, fashion has played a significant role in political participation and protest. Fashioning the Body Politic challenges the perception of helpless fashion victims, subject to manipulation by consumerism and the fashion industry, and shows how, in a range of historical and national contexts, certain styles of dress and display were significant for both men and women's political participation and the formation of their identities as citizens.