The dress of the people : everyday fashion in eighteenth-century England / John Styles

Includes bibliographical references and index

Introduction: Consuming the eighteenth century -- Travellers' tales : nation and region -- What the people wore -- Clothing biographies -- Keeping up appearances -- Changing clothes -- Fashioning time : watches -- Fashion's favourite : cotton -- Clothing provincial England : fabrics -- Clothing provincial England : garments -- Clothing the metropolis -- The view from above -- The view from below -- Budgeting for clothes -- Clothes and the lifecycle -- Involuntary consumption : objects of charity -- Involuntary consumption : parish paupers -- Involuntary consumption : servants -- Popular fashion

Material things transformed the lives of ordinary English men and women between the restoration of Charles II in 1660 and the Great Reform Act of 1832. This title retrieves the unknown story of ordinary consumers in 18th century England and what they wore.