Dressed for the Occasion: What Americans Wore, 1620-1970 (People's History) [Hardcover]

Brandon Marie Miller (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 10 and up | Grade Level: 5 and up | Series: People's History

Examines the history, manufacture, and care of American clothing from colonial times to the 1970s and discusses its relationship to the social milieu.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-9-An excellent overview. Miller not only tells what Americans wore, but why. She frames her information within a socioeconomic context as she relates fashion to the larger culture in a vivid portrait of self-expression by its wearers. Evening, work, leisure, children's attire, and mourning clothes are covered as well as Native American dress. Interesting tidbits, such as what was under those hoop skirts, enliven the presentation. The text is highlighted with sepia-toned reproductions and photographs. Refer students needing more in-depth information on narrower periods of history to titles such as Bobbie Kalman's 19th Century Clothing (1993) and 18th Century Clothing (1993), and Bobbie Kalman and David Schimpky's Children's Clothing of the 1800s (1995, all Crabtree).
Joyce Adams Burner, Hillcrest Library, Prairie Village, KS
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Gr. 5^-8. Although this is a whirlwind tour of men's and women's fashion, there's nothing slipshod about it, and it is full of nifty facts. The Puritans banned silk roses on shoes in the mid-1650s; eighteenth-century parents, obsessed with their children's posture, both put girls and boys in corsets. We learn that the "powder room" was originally a special room for men and women to have great quantities of powder put on their oiled hair, and we learn how very recent is the concept of clean bodies, let alone clean clothes. Miller notes how often women's dress was designed to constrain and hobble females: the Victorian woman may have been considered fragile, but she wore about 20 pounds of clothing. The bobbed hair and short chemise dresses of the 1920s were truly shocking after centuries of constriction. There's a wonderful bit about the gulf between the clean-cut look of the 1950s and the greaser look of James Dean and, later, Elvis Presley, and a sobering look at the crumbling of deep mourning clothes when so many women would have been obliged to wear them after World War I. Entertaining, fascinating, and replete with captivating bits. GraceAnne A. DeCandido

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 10 and up
  
• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group; 1St Edition edition (January 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822517388
• ISBN-13: 978-0822517382
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #429,759 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #52 in Books > Children's Books > Arts, Crafts & Music > Art > Fashion

More About the Author

Brandon Marie Miller writes history for young people. She writes about both the famous and the common folk, about great events and everyday life. Her books have been honored by the International Reading Association and the National Council for the Social Studies, among others. Brandon grew up in Park Forest, Illinois and earned her degree in American History from Purdue University. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. Find out more at www.brandonmariemiller.com and check out http://hands-on-books.blogspot.com