The dressed and styled human body is irresistible to analyse. Framed by the idea that people’s dress and engagement with Fashion is a fundamental component of how we all conceive, create and convey personal and shared histories, the following ‘mini-essays’ are my attempt to unpick the cultural threads that hold our wardrobes together. Aide-mémoires, tongue-in-cheek, discursive, works-in-progress, I began writing them in 2013 in the spirit of Roland Barthes’ Mythologies and Umberto Eco’s Travels in Hyper Reality, although rarely with the same perspicacity, precision and pace.
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26. The Beard (2)
I had intended to write about men’s beards, or rather the barbers behind men’s beards, but as I have touched on the subject of men’s facial fur before, by offering a brief biography of the beard from the Middle Ages into Modernity (here), I wanted instead to think more broadly about the beard’s social significance.…
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25. The T-Shirt
I want to talk about summer, so of course it is raining. The recent spell of barmy sunshine has provoked a sudden and seismic change in people’s wardrobes. The same happened last year and the years before that. It will happen again next year. Dark body-covering clothes, sartorial staples upon which we have relied for…
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24. The Past, Present
History is working hard to woo new audiences in the twenty-first century. In an age of Wiis, iPhones and Twitter, History’s association with writing, memorising dates and reading books is more likely to deter than delight. I encounter many people, from plumbers and hairdressers to baristas and train commuters, who tell me that they really…
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22. The Neck
This post was originally published with Parisian Gentleman. Charley: The young ones have no manners. The other day at the carwash, a young man looked me up and down and asked me if I was a natural blonde. George: What did you say? Charley: I looked him straight in the eye and said, ‘well let’s…
Dr Benjamin Wild 