The Force of Fashion in Politics and Society

Book excerpt: Throughout history, fashion has emerged as one of the most powerful driving forces determining the political, economic and social ramifications of the production, distribution and circulation of goods. Using fashion as the lens through which to analyse and understand cultural, economic and political shifts within a broad spectrum of societies from the seventeenth to twenty-first centuries, this volume represents an important shift in scholarship towards a more indepth understanding of the force of fashion.