What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America 
Subtitle: The Colonial Williamsburg Collection (Williamsburg Decorative Arts Series)
Publisher: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation; Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in association with Yale University Press, New Haven
Published: October 2002
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 275
ISBN-13: 9780879352165
Subjects: Social life and customs; To 1865; Social aspects; Collections, Catalogs, Exhibitions - Museum; Art & Art Instruction; To 1775; Sociology; Social conditions; American - General; Fashion; Clothing and dress; United States; History
First sentence: The very first garment purchased by Colonial Williamsburg in 1930, an antique dress made of crisp silk, came from the collection of a Richmond, Virginia, woman (fig. 4).
Description: "Paintings of upper-class men and women tell an important part of the history of costumes, but surviving garments reveal even more. Every crease, stitch, and stain in a piece of clothing supplies valuable information about its wearer and its era. This stunning book features eighteenth - and early-nineteenth-century garments from the premiere collection of Colonial Williamsburg.

Illustrated with more than 300 color photographs, including many details and back views, What Clothes Reveal treats not only elegant, high-style clothing in colonial America but also garments for everyday and work, the clothing of slaves, and maternity and nursing apparel.".

"Drawing on contemporary written descriptions and on actual costumes of the period, the book analyzes what Americans in the eighteenth century considered fashionable and attractive and how they used clothing to assert status or to identify occupations. The book also examines the myths and meanings of clothing in British and American society, clothing for the entire life cycle, and a history of clothing alteration. Informative sidebars on a variety of fascinating topics complete the volume."--BOOK JACKET.