Dress Codes: How the Laws of Fashion Made History

Written by Richard Thompson Ford

Narrated by Bill Andrew Quinn

For centuries, clothing has been a wearable status symbol; fashion, a weapon in struggles for social change; and dress codes, a way to maintain political control. Dress codes evolved along with the social and political ideals of the day, but they always reflected struggles for power and status. In the 1700s, South Carolina's "Negro Act" made it illegal for Black people to dress "above their condition." In the 1920s, the bobbed hair and form-fitting dresses worn by free-spirited flappers were banned in workplaces throughout the United States, and in the 1940s the baggy zoot suits favored by Black and Latino men caused riots in cities from coast to coast.

Even in today's more informal world, dress codes still determine what we wear, when we wear it-and what our clothing means. And even when there are no written rules, implicit dress codes still influence opportunities and social mobility. Silicon Valley CEOs wear t-shirts and flip flops, setting the tone for an entire industry: women wearing fashionable dresses or high heels face ridicule in the tech world and some venture capitalists refuse to invest in any company run by someone wearing a suit.

In Dress Codes, law professor and cultural critic Richard Thompson Ford presents an insightful and entertaining history of the laws of fashion from the middle ages to the present day.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Dec 28, 2021
• ISBN: 9781666133967

Richard Thompson Ford

Richard Thompson Ford is a Professor at Stanford Law School. He has written about law, social and cultural issues and race relations for The New York Times, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and Slate, and has appeared on The Colbert Report and The Rachel Maddow Show. He is the author of the New York Times notable books The Race Card and Rights Gone Wrong: How Law Corrupts the Struggle for Equality. He lives in San Francisco.

Reviews for Dress Codes

[Eva Matijevic · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Good start but he loses focus somewhere before the middle. There is a couple of historical examples here, but the focus is mainly on the last 200 years of USA (which is not a bad thing in itself, but it’s just that book wasn’t marketed as such). A LOT of mention of “great nale renunciation” but in passing - kinda like when teenagers learn new phrase so they start using it everywhere in order to sound smart.

[Betty Bennett · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An interesting look at the history of how clothing was used to blame and shame others. Who knew that Hitler was only copying a practice that started in the middle ages when making Jewish people wear identifying items of clothing And that's only one item in this history

[Ivy Thompson · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A little repetitive with a heavy focus on the great male renunciation. Would have liked to see more information in the dress etiquette of the 19th century which was pretty elaborate but largely glossed over in this volume.