A new look for Austerity...The coldest winter on record, rationing, successive economic crises, bombed out towns and cities; with some justification 'Austerity Britain' in the late 1940s is coloured in the popular imagination in tones of drab. Dressing for Austerity shines a light on alternative visions of post-war optimism and aspiration. It traces how, set against the Labour government's philosophy of 'Austerity by design' in a climate of post-war idealism, the desire for affordable fashionable clothing, access to leisure, and the health, time and money to enjoy them became totemic symbols of post-war ambition that impelled new strategies of state control and consumer agency. The book examines the immediate post-war period - its politics, its fashions and its people - in new ways and on its own terms as a critical tipping point in the making of modern Britain. “The immediate postwar period in Britain, the era of austerity, has been the subject of many books, but most focus on the social and economic changes ushered in by the war and the Labour government of 1945. This is one of the few monographs to examine the stylistic and cultural changes of the period… Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.” (Choice Connect) Geraldine Biddle-Perry is Associate Lecture in Cultural Studies at Central St Martins, and co-author of Hair: Styling, Culture and Fashion. Reina Lewis is Emerita Professor of Cultural Studies at London College of Fashion, UAL, UK. Elizabeth Wilson is a pioneer in the development of fashion studies, and has been a university professor, feminist campaigner and activist. Her writing career began in the 'underground' magazines of the early 1970s, ( Frendz , Red Rag , Spare Rib , Come Together ) before she became an academic. She's written for the Guardian and her non-fiction books include Adorned in Dreams (1985, 2003), The Sphinx in the City (1992) (shortlisted for the Manchester Odd Fellows Prize), Bohemians (2000) and Love Game (2014) (long listed for the William Hill sportswriting prize), as well as six crime novels, including War Damage (2009) and The Girl in Berlin (2012) (long listed for the Golden Dagger Award). Orders are despatched from our UK warehouse next working day.