Looks at the consumption habits of men to assess the conventional notion that the acquisition of fashion items was an activity defined and divided largely through gender difference from the late 18th century to the middle of the 20th, that middle-class women either retained the prerogative or fulfilled a social duty in determining the practice of family consumption in that arena. The grammar of male clothing, stereotypes and the patterns of class, provision for the male consumer, subversive performances, and disciplining sartorial desire are among the topics discusses. Distributed in the US by St. Martins Press. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) This innovative book uncovers the consuming habits of urban men from the second half of the nineteenth century to the outbreak of the First World War. It focuses on the fraught relationships that emerged at this time between ideal models of manly behavior and attitudes towards the expression of sexual and class identities through the medium of dress. The period has been identified by many historians as a crucial moment in the development of a commodity culture, and its characteristics have generally been discussed in terms of a feminization of practices linked with shopping and fashionable display. In a challenge to the accepted picture, Christopher Breward tracks previously hidden connections between the formation of popular sartorial models for male consumers, the organization of associated retail industries and the promotion of new leisure activities. This innovative book uncovers the consuming habits of urban men from the second half of the nineteenth century to the outbreak of the First World War. It focuses on the fraught relationships that emerged at this time between ideal models of manly behavior and attitudes towards the expression of sexual and class identities through the medium of dress. The period has been identified by many historians as a crucial moment in the development of a commodity culture, and its characteristics have generally been discussed in terms of a feminization of practices linked with shopping and fashionable display. In a challenge to the accepted picture, Christopher Breward tracks previously hidden connections between the formation of popular sartorial models for male consumers, the organization of associated retail industries and the promotion of new leisure activities. This innovative book uncovers the consuming habits of urban men from the second half of the nineteenth century to the outbreak of the First World War. It focuses on the fraught relationships that emerged at this time between ideal models of manly behavior and attitudes towards the expression of sexual and class identities through the medium of dress. The period has been identified by many historians as a crucial moment in the development of a commodity culture, and its characteristics have generally been discussed in terms of a feminization of practices linked with shopping and fashionable display. In a challenge to the accepted picture, Christopher Breward tracks previously hidden connections between the formation of popular sartorial models for male consumers, the organization of associated retail industries and the promotion of new leisure activities.
