{"product_id":"london-couture-and-the-making-of-a-fashion-centre-isbn-9780262046572","title":"London Couture and the Making of a Fashion Centre","description":"\u003cb\u003eHow design collaboration, networks, and narratives contributed to the establishment of a recognized English couture industry in the 1930s and 1940s.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the 1930s and 1940s, English fashion houses, spurred by economic and wartime crises, put London on the map as a major fashion city. In this book, Michelle Jones examines the creation of a London-based couture industry during these years, exploring how designer collaboration and the construction of specific networks and narratives supported and shaped the English fashion economy. Haute couture—the practice of creative made-to-measure womenswear—was widely regarded as inherently French. Jones shows how an English version emerged during a period of economic turbulence, when a group of designers banded together in a collective effort to shift power within the international fashion system.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eJones considers the establishment of this form of English design practice, analyzing the commercial, social, and political factors that shaped the professional identity of the London couturiers. She focuses on collaborative activity that supported this form of elite, craft-based fashion production—from the prewar efforts of the Fashion Group of Great Britain to the wartime establishment of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers, modeled loosely after French fashion’s governing body, the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne. \u003cbr\u003eIt was these collective efforts by couturiers that established and sustained London’s place as an internationally recognized center for creative fashion.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Introduction: London Couture--Design Collaboration, Networks and Narratives 1\u003cbr\u003e1 London Launches a Mode: The Development of a Mayfair Couture 17\u003cbr\u003e2 Made in England: Pre-War Collaboration and the Pursuit of the American Market 67\u003cbr\u003e3 \"Brisk Action on the Mayfair Front\": The War Years and the Creation of the Incorporated Society of London Fashion Designers 109\u003cbr\u003e4 London Can Make It: The Post-War Reconstruction of a Fashion Centre 161\u003cbr\u003eConclusion: The \"Top Ten\"--The Most Exclusive Professional Body in Britain 221\u003cbr\u003eAppendix 235\u003cbr\u003eArchival Sources 239\u003cbr\u003eNotes 247\u003cbr\u003eIndex 301“This fascinating account of London’s couture industry shows us that Paris was not the only city to define itself by its commitment to fashion.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003ePenny Sparke, Professor of Design History, Kingston University, London; and author of \u003ci\u003eAn Introduction to Design and Culture: 1900 to the Present\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e“Framed by the Second World War and post-war reconstruction, and focusing on London, this book offers a fascinating and persuasive account of the shifting geographies of high fashion. Beautifully written and illustrated, it provides an exemplary study of how fashion contributes to wider design and visual cultures in a specific time and place.”\u003cbr\u003e—\u003cb\u003eCheryl Buckley, Professor Emerita of Fashion and Design History, University of Brighton, UK; coauthor of \u003ci\u003eFashion and Everyday Life: London and New York\u003c\/i\u003e (with Hazel Clark)\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eMichelle Jones\u003c\/b\u003e is a design historian and Senior Lecturer at Central St. Martins, University of the Arts, London, and the Cambridge School of Visual and Performing Arts. \u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"The MIT Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46303337185509,"sku":"NP9780262046572","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780262046572.jpg?v=1767731677","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/london-couture-and-the-making-of-a-fashion-centre-isbn-9780262046572","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}