What Clothes Reveal: The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America. By Linda Baumgarten. (Williamsburg: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 2002. xii, 265 pp. $65.00, isbn 0-300-09580-5.)

Abstract

In recent years, a reinvigorated field of fashion studies has produced a more complex understanding of dress as a vehicle for the expression of social identity. To historians of early America, the reinterpretation of dress has made it a subject of renewed interest. Yet most historians have been slow to capitalize on one important primary source of historical information on dress—actual historic clothing. (A notable exception is Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, The Age of Homespun, 2001.) Linda Baumgarten examines what Americans considered fashionable and how they used clothing in the colonial and federal eras. As curator of textiles and costumes at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Baumgarten draws on specialized knowledge of clothing history and construction and bases her study on the museum's rich textile collection. What Clothes Reveal is a sumptuous read with interesting sidebars and over 350 color photographs. Baumgarten utilizes a range of sources but focuses on extant examples of early Anglo-American clothing. Her curatorial insights about these fragile surviving objects carry exceptional conviction.