Jennifer M. Jones - Sexing La Mode. Gender, Fashion and Commercial Culture in Old Regime France [2004][A]

Book Description
Release date: September 23, 2004 | ISBN-10: 1859738303 | ISBN-13: 978-1859738306
The connection between fashion, femininity, frivolity and Frenchness has become a cliché. Yet, relegating fashion to the realm of frivolity and femininity is a distinctly modern belief that developed along with the urban culture of the Enlightenment. In eighteenth-century France, a commercial culture filled with shop girls, fashion magazines and window displays began to supplant a courtly fashion culture based on rank and distinction, stimulating debates over the proper relationships between women and commercial culture and between morality and taste. The story of how "la mode" was "sexed" as feminine offers compelling insights into the political, economic and cultural tensions that marked the birth of modern commercial culture. Jones examines men's and women's relation to fashion at this time, looking at both consumption and production to show the origins of the idea of shopping and fashion as specifically feminine.

Review
The recent release of Sofia Coppola's 'Marie Antoinette', with its lavish and detailed depiction of eighteenth-century court dress, suggests an enduring interest in the topic of fashion. As someone with a deep personal interest in 'La Mode', I was enormously pleased to be assigned the task of reviewing Jennifer M. Jones's book on fashion, gender and shopping under the Old Regime, especially since it is well-written and engaging. Christine Adams, H-France Review

About the Author
Jennifer M. Jones is Graduate Director of Women's Studies and Associate Professor of History, Rutgers University.