The American Look Sportswear, Fashion and the Image of Women in 1930s and 1940s New York

by Arnold, Rebecca

• ISBN13: 9781860647635
• ISBN10: 1860647634
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-11-15
• Publisher: Bloomsbury

Summary

During the 1930s and 1940s, the New York fashion industry developed its own distinct style. Sportswear, which had evolved from its sporting origins to include simple casual wear for town and country, travel and leisure, was at the heart of this, providing busy career women, college girls and housewives with clothes that could be worn on all occasions.

Author Biography

Rebecca Arnold is Research Fellow in the History of Design Department at the Royal College of Art in London. She was Guest Professor in Fashion Studies at Stockholm University, 2006-2007.  As Senior Lecturer at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design, University of the Arts, she established the first UK undergraduate degree in Fashion History & Theory. She has lectured and written widely on twentieth-century fashion.  Her first book, Fashion, Desire & Anxiety: Image & Morality in the Twentieth Century was published by I.B. Tauris in 2001.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. ix
Acknowledgements	p. xv
Introduction	p. 1
New York and the Evolution of Sportswear 1929-39	p. 13
New York City	p. 13
Sportswear	p. 23
The Modern Sportswear Aesthetic I	p. 30
American Body Culture	p. 39
Body Image/Body Culture	p. 39
Health and Hygiene	p. 46
Exercise and Dance	p. 52
Sports Body	p. 61
Sportswear and the New York Fashion Industry During the Depression	p. 75
Effects of the Depression	p. 75
Career Women	p. 83
The Fashion Group	p. 93
Sportswear's Promotion During the 1930s	p. 105
New York Department Stores	p. 105
The Fashion Media	p. 116
The Monastic Dress and Sportswear Promotion in the late 1930s	p. 123
Sportswear and the New York Fashion Industry During the Second World War	p. 135
Effects of the Second World War	p. 135
Sportswear Design and Representation	p. 147
The Modern Sportswear Aesthetic II	p. 157
The American Look and the Rise of the Designer	p. 169
The American Look	p. 169
New York Sportswear Designers and Consumerism	p. 178
The Woman of Fashion 1947	p. 188
Conclusion	p. 199
Bibliography	p. 211
Index	p. 231
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