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Dress Codes: How the Laws of Fashion Made History Hardcover – February 9, 2021

by Richard Thompson Ford (Author)

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A “sharp and entertaining” (The Wall Street Journal) exploration of fashion through the ages that asks what our clothing reveals about ourselves and our society.

Dress codes are as old as clothing itself. For centuries, clothing has been a wearable status symbol; fashion, a weapon in struggles for social change; and dress codes, a way to maintain political control. Merchants dressing like princes and butchers’ wives wearing gem-encrusted crowns were public enemies in medieval societies structured by social hierarchy and defined by spectacle. In Tudor England, silk, velvet, and fur were reserved for the nobility, and ballooning pants called “trunk hose” could be considered a menace to good order. The Renaissance-era Florentine patriarch Cosimo de Medici captured the power of fashion and dress codes when he remarked, “One can make a gentleman from two yards of red cloth.” Dress codes evolved along with the social and political ideals of the day, but they always reflected struggles for power and status. In the 1700s, South Carolina’s “Negro Act” made it illegal for Black people to dress “above their condition.” In the 1920s, the bobbed hair and form-fitting dresses worn by free-spirited flappers were banned in workplaces throughout the United States, and in the 1940s, the baggy zoot suits favored by Black and Latino men caused riots in cities from coast to coast.

Even in today’s more informal world, dress codes still determine what we wear, when we wear it—and what our clothing means. People lose their jobs for wearing braided hair, long fingernails, large earrings, beards, and tattoos or refusing to wear a suit and tie or make-up and high heels. In some cities, wearing sagging pants is a crime. And even when there are no written rules, implicit dress codes still influence opportunities and social mobility. Silicon Valley CEOs wear t-shirts and flip-flops, setting the tone for an entire industry: women wearing fashionable dresses or high heels face ridicule in the tech world, and some venture capitalists refuse to invest in any company run by someone wearing a suit.

In Dress Codes, law professor and cultural critic Richard Thompson Ford presents a “deeply informative and entertaining” (The New York Times Book Review) history of the laws of fashion from the middle ages to the present day, a walk down history’s red carpet to uncover and examine the canons, mores, and customs of clothing—rules that we often take for granted. After reading Dress Codes, you’ll never think of fashion as superficial again—and getting dressed will never be the same.

Print length

464 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Simon & Schuster
Publication date

February 9, 2021
Dimensions

6 x 1.2 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

1501180061
ISBN-13

978-1501180064
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Dress Codes explores how for centuries fashion has marked a pathway for personal liberation and social critique even when it sought to reinforce class, race, and gender hierarchies. From nuns’ habits to flappers’ fringe to burkinis and hijabs, from Joan of Arc’s armor to Martin Luther King’s Sunday best, Richard Thompson Ford reveals a history of individual imagination capable of outwitting and recasting even the strictest rules. Ford’s writing is sharp, witty, and brilliant, with the elegance and craft of a bespoke suit." -- Daniel Sharfstein, Professor at Vanderbilt University and author of Thunder in the Mountains: Chief Joseph, Oliver Otis Howard, and the Nez Perce War

“I think that Dress Codes is long overdue. Clothing is at the heart of culture, indeed it is almost a definition of what we mean by the term culture, a constructed but ever changing expression of social relationships, beliefs and ideologies. We should all, as Richard Thompson Ford does so magnificently within this book, be taking fashion much more seriously.”

-- Ruth Goodman, author of How to be a Victorian and The Domestic Revolution

"We all abide by dress codes, whether required to do so or not. The author’s discussion embraces a vast body of knowledge, from what might be called fashion anthropology to a philosophy of sartorial splendor, and he’s an assured, genial narrator. He has an acute eye for detail, too...For the clotheshorse and the jeans-clad alike, a lucid, entertaining exploration of how and why we dress as we do." ― Kirkus (Starred)

“An intriguing history of formal and informal rules governing what people wear…. [Ford] makes a convincing case that dress codes reveal much about the social order and the pursuit of individual liberty. This jam-packed history casts its subject in a new light." ― Publishers Weekly

"[Ford] reflects on how fashion choices can reaffirm identity, assert individuality, and camouflage intent…. His engaging text provides ample historical and social context, and is sprinkled with period quotes, cartoons, photos, and advertisements. Whether addressing codpieces, Ruth Bader Ginsberg's lace collars, dreadlocks in the workplace, or pandemic curbside cocktail party attire, Ford's writing is fresh, informative, and thoroughly enjoyable.”
― Booklist

"In Dress Codes, Ford has created a thorough and well-thought-out history of fashion from a legal and societal perspective...Readers will come away with a new understanding of—and critical eye for—what we wear and why." ― BookPage

“An entertaining read, Dress Codes shows how fashion can both reflect and shape society.” ― The Economist

"Essential reading whether you dress to the nines or prefer sweats...Ford’s writing is steeped in extensive research and makes what could be a dull history lesson about fashion a deeply informative and entertaining study of why we dress the way we do, and what that tells us about class, sexuality and power." ― The New York Times Book Review

"A sharp and entertaining history of the rules of fashion. Mr. Ford skillfully examines how fashion, far from being mere frivolity, has shaped people’s lives from the 14th century to the present." ― Wall Street Journal

“You will probably never think of fashion as something trivial again.…the greatest strength of this book (on fashion!) is its intellectual depth. Ford asks us to question unconscious beliefs, to realize that we almost never do so, to understand that the simplest choices are fraught with meaning, and yet that meaning can and does change all the time.” ― The Free Lance-Star

"Dress Codes: How the Laws of Fashion Made History is a forensic examination of what we wear and how that has evolved in tandem with political control and social change...Piercing." ― China Post Magazine

"Dress Codes: How the Laws of Fashion Made History is a new book by Richard Thompson Ford, a Stanford Law School professor who has terrific personal style...The joy of Ford’s book comes from learning about all the things people have historically been banned from doing to or with clothes." ― NYMAG's The Cut

"[A] thoughtful history of the rules and rituals of attire...Ford makes an elegant argument that because fashion is a living language, it has the capacity to evolve." ― Robin Givhan, The Washington Post

About the Author

Richard Thompson Ford is a Professor at Stanford Law School. He has written about law, social and cultural issues and race relations for The New York Times, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and Slate, and has appeared on The Colbert Report and The Rachel Maddow Show. He is the author of the New York Times notable books The Race Card and Rights Gone Wrong: How Law Corrupts the Struggle for Equality. He lives in San Francisco.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster (February 9, 2021)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1501180061
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1501180064
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.4 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.2 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #346,805 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #70 in Fashion & Textile Business
- #277 in Fashion History
- #701 in Fashion Design

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4.5 292 ratings

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Richard Thompson Ford

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Richard Thompson Ford is the George E. Osborne Professor of Law at Stanford Law School. An expert on civil rights and antidiscrimination law, he has distinguished himself as an insightful voice and compelling writer on questions of race and multiculturalism. His scholarship combines social criticism and legal analysis and he writes for both popular readers and for academic and legal specialists. He has written for the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Christian Science Monitor and for Slate, where he is a regular contributor.

His most recent books include "Rights Gone Wrong: How Law Corrupts the Struggle for Equality" which The New York Times Sunday Book Review selected as one of the "100 Notable Books of 2011." In 2012 ON BEING A BLACK LAWYER selected him as one of the 100 Most Influential Black Lawyers in the Nation.

Visit his website at: http://richardtford.law.stanford.edu

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4.5 out of 5

292 global ratings

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a new person

Well-researched, very interesting, very well thought-out!

Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2021

Verified Purchase

Top read! I really appreciate how much time and research went into this. I ended up looking up the word "sartorial" pretty quickly because it is used a bunch. :) A very, very interesting read. I learned a lot that I didn't know, about menswear especially. I particularly appreciated the author's ability to put words to a lot of social subtleties regarding norms of clothing and dress that are difficult to verbalize or even realize consciously at times. This really helped me clarify some of my own thoughts about clothing and social expectations. I would love to see more books like this, since the nuances of clothing and people's responses to it is such a broad topic, and a more important one than most people realize it is, as the author so articulately and convincingly observes. Excellent read!!

9 people found this helpful

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Overly Verbose

Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2023

Verified Purchase

I was so excited to get the book and start reading. Not much on this subject to read. Unfortunately I stopped reading after about a fifth of the way through. It was soooooo wordy. So many unnecessary clarifying and descriptive phrases, sentences.... and duplicative statements. It was like reading a PhD dissertation. ... almost like the author was glorifying his ability to create a page-long paragraph with one sentence and LOTS of commas. I read almost exclusively history-related books and as much as I wanted to continue I just couldn't. I ended up skimming through pages here and there and then eventually put the book down for good. So disappointed. This book could have been spectacular.

4 people found this helpful

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Kevin

Unique topic and informative

Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2021

Verified Purchase

I love this books focus on an intersection of laws and fashion in the sense of how it contributes to perceived culture. The topic is unique and also sorely lacking coverage. I debated between a 3 and 4 star because the book drags on near the end when the point is mads redundant excessively. Some details could be made more brief. I could skip some pages and the point won't be lost.

4 people found this helpful

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Mary M.

History, culture, and psychology all in one book.

Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2021

Verified Purchase

I bought this book because, as a former fashion design professor, the topic naturally intrigued me. It is well researched, full of cultural and historical references, and offers great insights about why we dress the way we do. It is not a quick read because it feels a bit more like a textbook and reference guide, but it is well worth the time and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

5 people found this helpful

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Jonathan Salem Baskin

Really entertaining, with a very slight caveat

Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2021

Verified Purchase

I've just started this book and already know I'll finish it quickly. It's smart, insightful, and Richard's language is easy and engaging. My one caveat is that I have already run into four parenthetical phrases that read: (Insert, Image #__). The phrases are in bold and seem to suggest a draft that called for images that were never placed in the text but appear instead in separate collections of color plates. Again, an incredibly small issue and I blame the folks at Simon & Schuster for letting this mixup get to print. Richard's excellent book deserved a better proofreader.

47 people found this helpful

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Lorena Lombardo

Perfect condition

Reviewed in the United States on November 26, 2022

Verified Purchase

Great wrapping. Book came protected and impeccable.

Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2021

Verified Purchase

This was a very interesting history of fashion and how it has shaped our society. I learned a lot about how fashion is used to control people and restrict what they can do. I also learned that fashion is freedom and how people truly express themselves. Definitely recommend this book for anyone interested in history and self-expression

7 people found this helpful

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homegirl

So Very interesting

Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2022

Verified Purchase

Open this book to any page and you will learn about the social, economic and political cause and impact of every change in dressing of the last 1000 years. Love it!

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Amazon Customer

The power of clothing in a book

Reviewed in Canada on August 11, 2023

Verified Purchase

I really enjoyed this book it talked about the power of clothing throughout history on a polical, economial and social level.

A Y G Turner

Fascinating but academic

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 13, 2021

Verified Purchase

This feels like a collection of MA thesis (thesises? theses?) put together. Not in itself a bad thing but means quite a lot of repetition (albeit from different angles) of the various laws and implications. It was what I wanted and I found it very useful.

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Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter One Encoding Status
Concerning the Excessive Display of Trunk Hose, Crowns, Ruffled Collars, Velvet, and Crimson Silk

IN 1565, THE HAPLESS RICHARD Walweyn, servant of Rowland Bangham, Esq., was arrested for wearing “a very monsterous and outraygeous greate payre of hose.”

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Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter One Encoding Status Concerning the Excessive Display of Trunk Hose, Crowns, Ruffled Collars, Velvet, and Crimson Silk IN 1565, THE HAPLESS RICHARD Walweyn, servant of Rowland Bangham, Esq., was arrested for wearing “a very monsterous and outraygeous greate payre of hose.”

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Chapter One Encoding Status
Concerning the Excessive Display of Trunk Hose, Crowns, Ruffled Collars, Velvet, and Crimson Silk

IN 1565, THE HAPLESS RICHARD Walweyn, servant of Rowland Bangham, Esq., was arrested for wearing “a very monsterous and outraygeous greate payre of hose.”