Dressed For War

This is the untold story of our most iconic fashion magazine in its most formative years, in the Second World War. It was an era when wartime exigencies gave its editor, Audrey Withers, the chance to forge an identity for it that went far beyond stylish clothes. In doing so, she set herself against the style and preoccupations of Vogue's mothership in New York, and her often sticky relationship with its formidable editor, Edna Woolman Chase, became a strong dynamic in the Vogue story. But Vogue had a good war, with great writers and top-flight photographers including Lee Miller and Cecil Beaton - who loathed each other - sending images and reports from Europe and much further afield - detailing the plight of the countries and people living amidst war-torn Europe.

Men in khaki and grey squatting in the trenches, women at work, gender bending in goggles and overalls over their trousers, a girl at the Paris theatre in pleated, beaded silk, a bangle on her forearm made from copper fuse wire from the Somme. What people wear matters. Copiously illustrated, this book is the story of what people on both sides wore on the front line and on the home front through the seismic years of World War I. Nina Edwards, reveals fresh aspects of the war through the prism of the smallest details of personal dress, of clothes, hair and accessories, both in uniform and civilian wear. She explores how, during a period of extraordinary upheaval and rapid change, a particular preference for a type of razor blade or perfume, say, or the just-so adjustment to the tilt of a hat, offer insights into the individual experience of men, women and children during the course of World War I.

'Magnificent ... Dressed for War works on many levels: as an evocation of an uncommon time; as a celebration of an uncommon woman; as pure, unalloyed fun.' Lucy Davies, Daily Telegraph Dressed For War: The Story of Audrey Withers, Vogue editor extraordinaire from the Blitz to the Swinging Sixties is the untold story of our most iconic fashion magazine in its most formative years, in the Second World War. It was an era when wartime exigencies gave its editor, Audrey Withers, the chance to forge an identity for it that went far beyond stylish clothes. In doing so, she set herself against the style and preoccupations of Vogue’s mothership in New York, and her often sticky relationship with its formidable editor, Edna Woolman Chase, became a strong dynamic in the Vogue story. But Vogue had a good war, with great writers and top-flight photographers including Lee Miller and Cecil Beaton – who loathed each other – sending images and reports from Europe and much further afield – detailing the plight of the countries and people living amid war-torn Europe. Audrey Withers’ deft handling of her star contributors and the importance she placed on reflecting people’s lives at home give this slice of literary history a real edge. With official and personal correspondence researched from the magazine’s archives in London and in New York, Dressed For War tells the marvellous story of the titanic struggle between the personalities that shaped the magazine for the latter half of the twentieth century and beyond.

Examines the history, manufacture, and care of American clothing from colonial times to the 1970s and discusses its relationship to the social milieu.

The compelling true story that inspired the hugely successful major ITV drama series HOME FIRES – now in its second season. The Second World War was the WI's finest hour. The whole of its previous history - two decades of educating, entertaining and supporting women and campaigning on women's issues - culminated in the enormous collective responsibility felt by the members to 'do their bit' for Britain. With all the vigour, energy and enthusiasm at their disposal, a third of a million country women set out to make their lives and the lives of those around them more bearable in what they described as 'a period of insanity'. Through archive material and interviews with many WI members, Julie Summers takes us behind the scenes, revealing their nitty-gritty approach to the daily problems presented by the conflict. Jambusters is the fascinating story of how the Women's Institute pulled rural Britain through the war with pots of jam and a spirit of make-do-and-mend.

Costume designer Alison Freer’s styling kit is a magical bag of tricks, built to solve every single wardrobe malfunction on earth. TV and film productions wait for nothing, so her solutions have to work fast. In How to Get Dressed, Alison distills her secrets into a fun, comprehensive style guide focused on rethinking your wardrobe like a fashion expert and making what’s in your closet work for you. She provides real-world advice about everything style-related, including: • Making every garment you own fit better • Mastering closet organization • The undergarments you actually need • The scoop on tailors and which alterations are worth it • Shopping thrift and vintage like a rockstar Instead of repeating boring style “rules,” Alison breaks the rules and gets real about everything from bras to how to deal with inevitable fashion disasters. Including helpful information such as how to skip ironing and the dry cleaners, remove every stain under the sun, and help clueless men get their sartorial acts together, How to Get Dressed has hundreds of insider tips from Alison’s arsenal of tools and expertise.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER SHORTLISTED for the 2021 Lionel Gelber Prize Thoughtful and brilliant insights into the very nature of war--from the ancient Greeks to modern times--from world-renowned historian Margaret MacMillan. War--its imprint in our lives and our memories--is all around us, from the metaphors we use to the names on our maps. As books, movies, and television series show, we are drawn to the history and depiction of war. Yet we nevertheless like to think of war as an aberration, as the breakdown of the normal state of peace. This is comforting but wrong. War is woven into the fabric of human civilization. In this sweeping new book, international bestselling author and historian Margaret MacMillan analyzes the tangled history of war and society and our complicated feelings towards it and towards those who fight. It explores the ways in which changes in society have affected the nature of war and how in turn wars have changed the societies that fight them, including the ways in which women have been both participants in and the objects of war. MacMillan's new book contains many revelations, such as war has often been good for science and innovation and in the 20th century it did much for the position of women in many societies. But throughout, it forces the reader to reflect on the ways in which war is so intertwined with society, and the myriad reasons we fight.

'Cross-dressed to Kill' is a collection of extraordinary stories by twenty women cross-dressers of English, Irish, French, Prussian, Russian, Spanish, American and Israeli nationalities. The book answers the questions of why young women dressed as men to fight as soldiers in the 17th to 20th centuries? There were literally hundreds of known women cross-dressers yet they have been erased from both social and military history. It also contributes to the current debate about binary versus non-binary sexuality, for these women defied their birth sex and social gender assignation by assuming male disguise. The penalty for cross-dressing in this period was death.So, the bravery of these women masquerading as men and the risks they took were great. They watched their fathers, husbands and brothers head off to war, before breaking free from domesticity and joining the army too. Betty Friedan, doyenne of the feminist movement asks 'why should women have a half-life?' The cross-dressing women answer that by their actions. Fearless, 'tomboys', early feminists and decidedly full of what the newspapers called 'pluck and spunk'. They were young women for whom 'patriotism has no sex', determined to fight for their country. What happened to them in countless battles and wars around the world? Many were killed in combat, their sex discovered while dying on the battlefield. None were afraid to kill men and their bravery was rewarded by their officers and by royalty too. Medals, money and fame came to them when they told their stories to newspapers and book publishers. Were they lesbians or transsexuals? Some women like Maria van Antwerpen felt that they were 'in appearance a woman but in nature a man'. The book has the intimate details of how they disguised themselves and kept their sex secret for so long. They bandaged their breasts, used metal pipes to urinate, cropped their hair and adopted male mannerisms to deceive recruiting sergeants, their military companions and other women. Oscar Wilde wrote that what you wear 'penetrates to the very soul of the wearer...' So that 'the mind changes its sex' and you can behave as a man if dressed like one. What is the legacy of these courageous cross-dressers? Some are now hailed by the Army as the first female soldiers- like the American Deborah Sampson and Lucy Brewer. Statues have been erected in towns across Europe. Their bravery recognised by medals and life-long annuities from an admiring and astonished Royalty. Women soldiers today trying for the elite forces and demanding equality in the ranks can look to their historic sisters in arms. For they were iconic and spirited fighters for a right to full lives, crashing the barriers of society's prescribed roles for women. There are contemporary songs and poems written about them, for they were in their heyday minor celebrities. The Appendix lists for the first time those women recorded in military, archives and the law courts. Once forgotten but now remembered. As the writer Hilary Mantel says of women in history, ' their story is our story'.