Linda Przybyszewski: "The Lost Art of Dress"
Image courtesy of the McCall Pattern Company.
Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, a group of women called the “Dress Doctors” taught Americans what to wear. Via clothing clubs, pamphlets and home economics courses, they instructed young women on how to put together a wardrobe that emphasized thrift and beauty. The dress doctors felt women were embarking on a new era of civic and social engagement and needed to learn how to look the part. Now, in a time of fast fashion where price and novelty rule, the lessons of the Dress Doctors have largely been forgotten. Historian Linda Przybyszewski looks to resurrect their teachings in a new book, “The Lost Art of Dress.”
author of “The Lost Art of Dress” and associate professor of history at the University of Notre Dame.
Read A Featured Excerpt
Excerpted with permission from THE LOST ART OF DRESS: The Women Who Once Made America Stylish, by Linda Przybyszewski. Available from Basic Books, a member of The Perseus Books Group. Copyright © 2014.