Writing Fashion in Early Modern Italy

"The first comprehensive study on the role of Italian fashion and Italian literature, this book emphasizes the centrality of Italian literature and culture for understanding modern theories of fashion and gauging its impact in the shaping of codes of civility and taste in Europe and the West. Using literature to uncover what has been called the 'animatedness of clothing, ' the author explores the political meanings that clothing produces in public space."--P. [i].