While tracing the social and cultural history of fashion and its complex relationship to modernity, Elizabeth Wilson covers topics including fashion and city life, feminism and fashion, and oppositional dress.

When Adorned in Dreams was first published in 1985, Angela Carter described the book as ‘the best I have read on the subject, bar none.’

From haute couture to haberdashery, and ‘deviant’ dress to Dior, Elizabeth Wilson traces the social and cultural history of fashion and its complex relationship to modernity. From the ‘dress reform’ movement to certain strands of feminism, Wilson delights in the power of fashion to mark out identity - or subvert it.

Explore topics including fashion and city life, feminism and fashion, and oppositional dress in this authoritative scholarly text on fashion’s pivotal role in modern society.

"Adorned in Dreams: Fashion and Modernity is one of the best books ever published on the significance of fashion in society . . . as relevant today as when it was first published" - Valerie Steele, editor of Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture

"When it was first published in 1985, Adorned in Dreams pioneered new territory in the study of fashion . . . no text since has come close to challenging or overtaking its original claims" - Christopher Breward, National Museums Scotland

"Sharply focused, consistently intelligent, and broadly informative" - Los Angeles Times