Unfolding the Past

Description

Elizabeth Wilson is a pioneer of fashion studies, yet she never intended to become an academic. Starting her literary career as a feminist activist writing for the underground press, she went on to explore tennis, ‘bohemians’ and of course fashion – her obsession – along with forays into fiction. Throughout, she has never seen her work as abstract or disengaged from ‘real life’. In her memoir, she traces this relationship between personal experience and her writing, revisiting pivotal moments from childhood, adolescence and adult life to explore her belief that research, by its nature, is always a form of autobiography. She unfolds the garment of her life in a wide-ranging exploration of scenes from her past: her difficult relationship with her mother, fashion in the 60s and gay liberation. In this journey through time she shows how experiences are inseparable from the way we seek to explain and understand them, offering a unique and deeply personal account of her – and our – cultural world. Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Chapter 1: Outside looking in Chapter 2: First came reading Chapter 3: Researching my life Chapter 4: Bodies in the library Chapter 5: Dressing the post-war young woman Chapter 6: Dressing the Bohemian Sixties Chapter 7: What does a lesbian look like? Chapter 8: Writing feminism Chapter 9: Bad decade Chapter 10: The vulgar: Fashion redefined Chapter 11: Fashion as fetish Chapter 12: Haunting Chapter 13: Nostalgia mode Chapter 14: Cracks in the pavement Chapter 15: In search of lost streets Chapter 16: A visit to Rimini Chapter 17: Returning to Queen’s Club Chapter 18: Hedonism Chapter 19: Down there on a visit References One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Eleven Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Eighteen Index Acknowledgements