Perfect for any reader interested in fashion, history, or popular culture, this text is an essential resource that presents vital information and informed analysis of key fashion fads not found elsewhere.

Fashion Fads Through American History: Fitting Clothes into Context explores fashion fads from the 19th century to the current decade, providing the reader with specific insights into each era. The text draws fascinating connections between what we see in fashion phenomena-including apparel, accessories, hair, and makeup-and events in popular culture in general and across history.

Written by an art and design historian, the book is ideal for a wide range of student research projects, especially those in American history, social studies, art, and literature classes. It covers topics overlooked by fashion history texts because of their origination outside of the formal fashion system. Each entry provides critical historical context to help readers understand why the fad originated and why it resonated with consumers, and presents vital information and analysis of key fashions that were intimately related to currents in contemporary culture. The text also considers the resurgence of some fashion fads in the late 20th and early 21st centuries and provides context for their relevance.

Provides high school and college students with interesting information about the direct connections between fashion trends and history that is not available elsewhere in a scholarly source

Presents a multi-dimensional approach to understanding the ever-changing fads in the world of fashion, allowing students to recognize the meaning behind clothes and better think critically about what is presented to them through their peers and celebrity culture or sold to them by advertisers

Offers readers easy access to original source material

Supports the national social studies standard CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.7, which requires students to integrate information from diverse sources into an essay on American history