Nylon: The Story of a Fashion Revolution [Hardcover]

Susannah Handley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 19, 2000

"At a New York fashion show, we saw a girl clad from head to foot in artificial materials. Everything she wore was made from synthetic stuffs created by chemists. Her hat was Cellophane, her frock was Rayon. She wore 'Nylon' stockings and carried a patent-leather handbag and stood in imitation alligator shoes. Even the faint hint of musk on her imitation silk handkerchief came from a synthetic perfume."— National Geographic Magazine, November, 1939

Nylon, the wonder fabric, debuted at the 1939 New York World's Fair and created quite a sensation. Later, following the deprivations of World War II, Europeans and Americans greeted synthetic fabrics so warmly and quickly that they helped to bring about what Susannah Handley describes as a "fashion revolution." The story of synthetics in fashion, she notes, is one of chemical innovation, national pride, couture brilliance, and street style—and it reflects the social trends and desires of every generation in the twentieth century.

Nylon: The Story of a Fashion Revolution folds together an array of topics: the role of technology in modern life, the changing nature of popular taste, the fortunes of the late twentieth-century garment industry, and the design innovations and artistry that synthetics permit, even encourage. Handley tells behind-the-scenes stories about companies like DuPont (inventors of Nylon, the first pure synthetic fabric) and its competitors and imitators. She introduces readers to the world of clothing design and manufacture, tracing the development of fabrics from the semisynthetic "Art Silk" early in the century to polyester, Lycra, and the newest technological fibers and desirable weaves. She examines the advertising strategies that played on and built up consumer expectations. And she describes a not-too-distant future of interactive textiles, solar suits, intelligent jackets, and the "wearable office."

Lavishly illustrated, with many images in full color, Nylon: The Story of a Fashion Revolution is a fascinating combination of social history, history of technology, and the story of fashion.

"So rapid has been the technological progress that we can no longer be sure that the 'natural' material we see and handle is not in fact artificial, and even in the eco-fiber war it is practically impossible to establish whether or not nature's fibers hold the ethical high ground. The story of synthetics is the story of the eternal competition between nature and artifice."—from the Introduction

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Introduced in 1939 by the DuPont Company as a "miracle" fiber for women's stockings, nylon was the first completely synthetic fiber. Nylon's ready acceptance led to Orlon, Dacron, Lycra, polyester, and other human-made fibers that revolutionized fashion. Explored here are early attempts to create textiles from chemicals, followed by a chronological review of fashion changes, trends, and innovations of the 20th century. Especially interesting are the chapters on new technology in fiber creation and on clothing that explores the unique qualities of plastics instead of emulating natural fibers. Handley, a consultant for DuPont who is associated with the School of Fashion and Textiles at the Royal College of Art, presents a very positive view of chemicals in what is also a history of DuPont's contribution to the history of textiles. Generously illustrated and informative without being too technical, Nylon is essential reading for anyone with an interest in fashion. Recommended for academic and public libraries.DTherese Duzinkiewicz Baker, Western Kentucky Univ. Libs., Bowling Green
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

One of the 19th century's most earth-shattering inventions, nylon—yes, nylon—has its history spun in Susannah Handley's Nylon.

(Vanity Fair )

Artfully told... Succeeds as a history of advertising, of fashion and of chemical textiles. The expertly selected photographs in it provide a first-rate visual articulation to the text. In fact, they are so appealing that Nylon could do very well as a coffee table book—but that would give short shrift to Ms. Handley's enjoyable prose and history of a surprisingly interesting subject.

(Pia Nordlinger Wall Street Journal )

Tracing the evolution of synthetic fabrics from their origins in the chemistry of explosives manufacturing in the 19th century to the wearable computers being developed today, author Susannah Handley manages the rare feat of making serious academic scholarship extremely groovy... Provocative pictures and surprising facts... Who knew a book about chemistry could be so much fun?

(Deirdre R. Schwiesow USA Today )

Generously illustrated and informative without being too technical, Nylon is essential reading for anyone with an interest in fashion.

(Library Journal )

Much like one of the research chemists described in her work, Susannah Handley brings together disparate elements to create something dynamic and new... This book is a cogently argued, visually attractive contribution to business and fashion scholarship.

(Sarah Elvins Enterprise and Society )

An outstanding discussion of the development of synthetic fabrics in England and the United States.

(Kathy Peiss Studies in the Decorative Arts )

For those who assume nylon's greatest contribution to the sartorial world to have been the introduction of synthetic stockings to eager North American female consumers in 1938, Nylon offers a far more elaborate account of the manmade fiber's relation to fashion, from ready-made to couture design.

(Alison J. Clarke Technology and Culture )

Nylon is an engaging and fascinating study, demonstrating Handley's sure hand with technical and business matters and her fine sensibility for fashion. Her work is unique in having a strong base in the corporate/technological histories that generated synthetic fibers and in the apparel design and marketing terrains that translated the fibers into widely sold, then widely shunned clothes.

(Philip B. Scranton, Rutgers University )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (January 19, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801863252
• ISBN-13: 978-0801863257
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,917,217 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabric Into Fashion, May 24, 2000

By 

R. Hardy "Rob Hardy" (Columbus, Mississippi USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Nylon: The Story of a Fashion Revolution (Hardcover)

Which do you prefer, synthetic or natural? The answer is obvious to everyone, but on closer examination, the question becomes cloudy. Take fibers, for instance. There has been a boom in cotton and even hemp clothing because it is "natural," but then one has to consider the artificial fertilizers used and all the insecticides poured on the land to make the plants to make the textile. "Polyester" is something of a bad word to many people, as it is a synthetic, but it comes from petroleum derivatives, remnants of plants that are millions of years old rather than grown last season. Ever since artificial fibers were invented, there has been a see-saw of taste for them and against, for sensible reasons and for irrational ones. The history of this see-saw forms much of the story in _Nylon: The Story of a Fashion Revolution_ by Susannah Handley.

In the US, the story of artificial fibers has been the story of Du Pont. Dupont made gunpowder in the nineteenth century, and boomed during WWI, but it had an image problem after the war. "Better Living Through Chemistry" became the slogan, and the better living was going to start, of all things, with better stockings. There was a wildly fluctuating silk market based on imports from Japan; American women were buying 1.55 million pairs of silk stockings a day. The Japanese cornering of the market was resented by the American government and citizens, but that didn't curb the appetite for silk.

Stockings were a huge market, but Du Pont dragged the textile industry into re-inventing their stagnating wares. Nylon for dresses, nylon for wedding gowns, nylon for everything possible was advertised by Du Pont, and synthetics were linked to fashion forever. Polyester and Dacron, launched in the fifties, were light and resistant to stains and wrinkles. Sales of irons went down, sales of washers and dryers went up. There was a positive image of scientists taking part in fashion and popular culture.

Synthetics drastically affected even the couture of the Paris salons. The post-war cultural shifts meant that the salons could not continue to exist on a small number of wealthy clients, but had to start licensing such things as perfumes and ready-to-wear clothes. The sixties had a vogue for all sorts of technological materials, and especially for synthetic fashions. Du Pont worked hard to integrate its fibers into fabric manufacture and fashion design. It commissioned top fashion photographers to photograph synthetic fashions and sent the results out as press releases, a free publicity outlet to French couturiers. In America, 20 of the 21 layers in the Apollo moon suits were Du Pont fabrics originally developed "for earthbound use," and Du Pont encouraged "spacey" looking designs in clothes. Synthetics were pitched to the youth market, which had no prejudice that they were inferior to the "real" thing.

There was a bust. Polyester and nylon were in everything. Polyester especially peaked in John Travolta's disco leisure suit, and has had a bad reputation ever since. Overproduction of synthetics caused a classic boom and bust; with so many wonder fibers, people were free to notice that they caused static, retained moisture, and yellowed in perspiration. Natural fibers became more fashionable, both because of the ecology movement and because with more money, people could afford the extra cost of washing and ironing them. Raw materials for synthetics became more costly with the gas crisis. Attempts to shore up synthetics in the fashion industry were unsuccessful, and they took their places mostly in blends.

All things come full circle. Engineered fibers were reintroduced to European fashion in the eighties by none other than the Japanese. They married amazing new microfibres and the ancient craft of textile making, to produce brand new forms of cloth. Sculptural textures are formed by blending fibers of different shrink ratios and popping them into a hot dryer. Metallic films are imbedded into the threads. Even stainless steel could coat the fabrics. The Japanese recognized that silk has a desirable audible quality when it rubs on itself (called "scrooping"); new fibers passed sound-wave tests to verify that they scrooped satisfactorily. Next up: clothes that change colors or other properties based on heat, moisture, or anxiety levels, or wearable computers that control the appearance of the cloth. Will these be the next objects of desire, and if so, will they become just another burned out fad? Predict fashions accurately, and get rich.

_Nylon_ is a lively history of modern technology and fashion. Handley covers engineering, advertising, and fashion house philosophy with insight. The excitement, disillusionment, and excitement again of synthetic fabrics is a surprisingly alluring topic. Her book is beautifully illustrated with many historic advertisements, fashion model shots (both beautiful and absurd), and pictures of such novelties as the two ton leg in a huge nylon stocking to advertise a Los Angeles hosiery shop.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hard to handle, December 3, 2008

By 

Twal (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nylon: The Story of a Fashion Revolution (Hardcover)

I found this book difficult to review due to the static shocks emitted from the cover. Also, although the spine is crease-free, it smells a bit sweaty and the pages are damp and slightly yellow.

3.0 out of 5 stars Visiually stimulating and well-researched...but not a history of Nylon., March 1, 2008

By 

A. Zulli (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nylon: The Story of a Fashion Revolution (Hardcover)

I could think of a dozen more apt titles than Nylon, The Story of a Fashion Revolution, for this history of synthetics in fashion by Susannah Handley. An Over-long, Repetitive Bore is the first that comes to mind. If I were feeling more charitable, I might title it Technology in Fashion Textiles. A monographic history of nylon, DuPont's "miracle" fiber of the late 1930s, it is not.

With that expectation put aside, the book rests as a semi-academic and perfectly respectable history of technological innovation in synthetic textiles in fashion. It begins with the half-man-mades, most commonly known as rayon. These fibers were made of regenerated cellulose from wood pulp or other natural fibers. Chemists developed it into a wearable, washable fiber by the 1920s after decades of mostly failed experiments in making artificial silk. Chapter 2 deals with nylon and the revolutionary effects it had on everyday fashion. The most incredible aspect of early synthetic clothing, as Handley often points out, was the skillful marketing that convinced consumers that nylon, and later polyester, were "perfect" fabrics.

Marketing is a major theme throughout the book, and rightly so. What else could explain the mass consumption of powder blue polyester double-knit suits? Handley doesn't say so outright, but it is clear that it took twenty years for the reality of yellowing, clammy fabric to sink in because consumers wanted so badly to believe that America had indeed invented the perfect solution. Marketers worked hard to ally each new synthetic with high fashion. They did this by sponsoring couture lines and hiring the best fashion photographers and advertisers. The illusion worked...for a time.

Another theme is the ongoing search for a solution. The first problem was cost: how could manufacturers of the late nineteenth century clothe the newly moneyed masses in the silk they desired? Rayon provided the solution, if a flawed one. By the 1940s, they had fixed that problem and turned to the next; how to minimize cost and time in the upkeep of one's clothing. This time nylon and polyester stepped up, ready to flaunt their "quick dry" and "no-iron" qualities. The synthetics heyday continued unabated until the late 1960s and early 1970s, when the industry took a double hit with the sudden rise in price of petroleum (which is the material base for polyester), and the hippie movement, with its emphasis on natural living.

The last few chapters of the book deal with synthetics in the 1980s and 1990s. Handley takes us all over, from innovative Japanese designers like Rei Kawakubo to industry predictions for the future of textiles. It is difficult not to smirk at the wide-eyed hope that the first decade of the twentieth-century would be one of clothing that "acts as a barrier against stress, pollution and bacteria as well as the ravages of the sun, rain and wind." In other words, smart fibers that chemically or electronically adapt to the environment and the wearer.

Those innovations may be a reality, but in the decade since this book was written, it has become clear that the consumer- for now, at least- is more interested in clothes that feel good (physically as well as ethically) than an anti-static ion shirt that protects the wearer from harmful computer screens.

Handley breathlessly fantasizes about the imminent day when consumers are surrounded completely by a computerized world, but I have to disagree. We are so surrounded by technology and man-made materials, I think that we crave the small feeling of nature that wearing a soft cotton t-shirt gives. If there is any revolution in synthetics, it will be in the direction of eco-fibers. The measly page that Handley devotes to "eco-chic" places this book squarely in the twentieth-century. It may be a useful history for students to start their research with, or a fun and visually stimulating read for the proponent of techno-forward fashion, but the book never moves past that mostly superficial level.