Fashioned from Penury
Dress as Cultural Practice in Colonial Australia

This 1994 book reveals the broader historical and cultural implications of clothes in Australia for the first time.

Margaret Maynard (Author)

9780521459259, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 1 January 1994

248 pages, 25 b/w illus.
25.4 x 17.8 x 1.3 cm, 0.44 kg

"Well researched and well presented, this book usefully extends the study of the history of fashion into hitherto unexplored territory." Valerie Steele, American Historical Review

It is a common belief that Australians take little interest in their appearance. Yet from the first white settlement, clothing was of crucial importance to Australians. It was central to the ways class and status were negotiated and equally significant for marking out sexual differences. Dress was implicated in definitions of morality, in the relationship between Europeans and Aboriginal people, and between convict and free. This 1994 book, a history of the cultural practices of dress rather than an account of fashion, reveals the broader historical and cultural implications of clothes in Australia for the first time. It shows that the colonies did not always slavishly follow British fashion, and also looks at the impact of the gold field experience on Australian dress, the nature of local manufacturing and retail outlets, and the way in which rural men and their bush dress, rather than women's dress, became closely related to Australian identity.

Introduction
Part I. Penal Dress 1788–1840: 1. Irregular patterns: government and the social order
2. Fraying at the edges: clothing supplies and manufacturing
3. A cut above: fashion, class and power
4. On the fringe: clothing and Aboriginal/Colonial relations
Part II. Colonial Dress: 5. Dressing the part: urban codes - class and gender
6. From a different cloth: etiquette and social practice
7. Material needs: supply and demand
Part III. An Australian Distinctiveness: 8. A loose fit: emigration and adaption
9. Alternative threads: perceptions and stereotypes
10. Rough and ready made: bush dress and the mythology of the 'real' Australian
Appendices
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], Australasian & Pacific history [HBJM]