Fashion is the mode for leisure, for the individual and how they express themselves. In "Bring No Clothes," renowned fashion writer Charlie Porter brings us face to face with six members of the Bloomsbury Group, the collective that was at the forefront of a social and stylistic revolution.
Each member offers a new perspective on the constraints and possibilities of fashion today: from the repression of E. M. Forster's high buttons to the creativity of Vanessa Bell's "disobedient" cuffs, from the splendid joy of Ottoline Morrell's rich dresses to the strict self-awareness of Virginia Woolf's orange socks.
Porter, carefully analyzing the clothes and the way they were worn, demonstrates how dressing can act as a means of artistic, intellectual, and sexual liberation, or, conversely, as a tool of patriarchal control.
As he travels through libraries, archives, and studios, he uncovers new details about his subjects, revealing them with an excitingly intimate and vibrant new dimension. In the end, he suggests that we all should "bring no clothes," adopting not only a new approach to fashion but also a new philosophy of life that reconnects the way we dress with the way we think, act, and love.
Now with a new Afterword by the author.
Pages: 368, Dimensions: 11.2x11.2cm
