Fashioning Society: A Hundred Years of Haute Couture by Six Designers

The hundred years of fashion from the 1860s to the 1970s was a time when a succession of haute couture designers—most notably, Charles Worth, Paul Poiret, Coco Chanel, Elsa Schiaparelli, Christian Dior, and Yves Saint Laurent—were the arbiters of fashion, and their creations the weapon of choice for power-seeking members of the aristocracy and upper class. Fashioning Society explores the ways in which high-fashion designers and their maisons influenced—and were influenced by—the fine arts as well as sociological, technological, philosophical, and political developments. By addressing the question, "What has happened to high-fashion design?" the author discusses what readers should consider when trying to understand and predict long-term trends.