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This book is a journey through the fairy-tale wardrobe, explaining how the mercurial nature of fashion has shaped and transformed the Western fairy-tale tradition. Many of fairy tale's most iconic images are items of dress: the glass slippers, the red capes, the gowns shining like the sun, and the red shoes. The material cultures from which these items have been conjured reveal the histories of patronage, political intrigue, class privilege, and sexual politics behind the most famous fairy tales. The book not only reveals the sartorial truths behind Cinderella's lost slippers, but reveals the networks of female power woven into fairy tale itself.
List of contents
1. The Rise of Fashionable Fairy Tales: A Noble Fabrication.- 2. Fashion Felons I: Leading La Mode .- 3. Fashion Felons II: Breaking All the Fashion Rules.- 4. Skills with Threads: Heroes who Make Fashion.- 5. Shoes, the Sole of Fairy Tale: Stepping Between Desire and Damnation.- 6. What the Fairies Wore: Sartorial Means and Blackest Villains.- 7. Conclusion: The Fairy Tale Undressed.
About the author
Rebecca-Anne C. Do Rozario is an adjunct research fellow in Literary Studies at Monash University, Australia.
Summary
This book is a journey through the fairy-tale wardrobe, explaining how the mercurial nature of fashion has shaped and transformed the Western fairy-tale tradition. Many of fairy tale’s most iconic images are items of dress: the glass slippers, the red capes, the gowns shining like the sun, and the red shoes. The material cultures from which these items have been conjured reveal the histories of patronage, political intrigue, class privilege, and sexual politics behind the most famous fairy tales. The book not only reveals the sartorial truths behind Cinderella’s lost slippers, but reveals the networks of female power woven into fairy tale itself.
Additional text
“In this richly detailed and thoroughly researched book, Rebecca-Anne Do Rozario links fairy tales with fashion, redefining the genre’s history in order to highlight the sartorial connections that weave in and out of many texts and traditions. ... The range of texts analyzed is impressive. … This sack of meat concurs, and henceforth recommends Do Rozario’s book as one of the more stimulating contributions to fairy-tale studies in a good long while.” (Jeana Jorgensen, Marvels & Tales, Vol. 36 (1), 2022)
“This book seeks to investigate the role clothing and fashion plays in fairy tales and how fashion has actively shaped fairy-tale traditions, revealing the material cultures behind the most sartorial gestures. … The book is a useful addition to this expanding area of literature. It is well referenced and highlights a novel aspect ofthe fairy-tale tradition.” (B.C. Kennedy, Gramarye, Issue 14, 2018)
Report
"In this richly detailed and thoroughly researched book, Rebecca-Anne Do Rozario links fairy tales with fashion, redefining the genre's history in order to highlight the sartorial connections that weave in and out of many texts and traditions. ... The range of texts analyzed is impressive. ... This sack of meat concurs, and henceforth recommends Do Rozario's book as one of the more stimulating contributions to fairy-tale studies in a good long while." (Jeana Jorgensen, Marvels & Tales, Vol. 36 (1), 2022)
"This book seeks to investigate the role clothing and fashion plays in fairy tales and how fashion has actively shaped fairy-tale traditions, revealing the material cultures behind the most sartorial gestures. ... The book is a useful addition to this expanding area of literature. It is well referenced and highlights a novel aspect ofthe fairy-tale tradition." (B.C. Kennedy, Gramarye, Issue 14, 2018)
