We end our monthly fashion special with Bethan Bide’s assessment of the Fashion on the Ration exhibition at the Imperial War Museum, and she reports on a thoughtful exhibition which could be bolder in using material culture evidence to signpost the counter narratives contained within the objects on display (no. 1803).
Next up is Textiles, Fashion and Design Reform in Austria-Hungary Before the First World War by Rebecca Houze. Shona Kallestrup believes this book provokes a welcome reconsideration of how we understand the complex cultural tapestry of Vienna (no. 1802).
Finally for fashion, we turn to Fashionable Queens: Body – Power – Gender, edited by Eva Flicker and Monika Seidl, with Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell warning against a muddled mixed bag of an essay collection (no. 1801).
We also have a great review of the newly enhanced Welsh Newspapers Online website, as Paul O’Leary reviews a formidable resource with enormous potential for the study of the 19th and early 20th centuries (no. 1800).