Bring No Clothes - Bloomsbury and the Philosophy of Fashion

In Bring No Clothes, acclaimed fashion writer Charlie Porter brings us face to face with six members of the Bloomsbury Group-the collective of creatives and thinkers who were in the vanguard of a social and sartorial revolution. Each of them offers fresh insight into the constraints and possibilities of fashion today: from the stifling repression of E. M. Forster''s top buttons to the creativity of Vanessa Bell''s wayward hems; from the sheer pleasure of Ottoline Morrell''s lavish dresses to the clashing self-consciousness of Virginia Woolf''s orange stockings; from Duncan Grant''s liberated play with nudity to John Maynard Keynes''s power play in the traditional suit. As Porter carefully unpicks what they wore and how they wore it, we see how clothing can be a means of artistic, intellectual and sexual liberation, or, conversely, a tool for patriarchal control.

As he travels through libraries, archives, attics and studios, Porter uncovers new evidence about his subjects, revealing them in a thrillingly intimate, vivid new light. And, as he begins making his own clothing, his own perspective on fashion-and on life-starts to change. In the end, he shows, we should all ''bring no clothes'', embracing not just a new way with fashion but a new philosophy of living-one which activates the connections between the way we dress and the way we think, act and love.<>

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A triumph. I could read Charlie Porter's books all day long. He makes us see a subject we thought we knew so well from a completely different angle; in writing that is deeply researched, but inviting, warm, and full of personality Katy Hessel

Product details

• Authors: Charlie Porter, Porter Charlie
• Publisher: Penguin Books Uk
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 05.09.2024
• EAN: 9781802061147
• ISBN: 978-1-80206-114-7
• Dimensions: 110 mm x 180 mm x 28 mm
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Interior design, design; London, Greater London, Collected biographies, 20th Century, DESIGN / History & Criticism, HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / 20th Century, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Fashion, 20th century, c 1900 to c 1999, Philosophy: aesthetics, history of design, History of fashion, Fashion and textile design, Cultural studies: dress and society