Unfolding the Past

Elizabeth Wilson is a pioneer of fashion studies who explores the relationship between personal experience and her writing in her memoir. She revisits pivotal moments from childhood, adolescence, and adult life to explore her belief that research is always a form of autobiography. She offers a unique and deeply personal account of her cultural world.

Format: Hardback
Length: 296 pages
Publication date: 05 May 2022
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Elizabeth Wilson is a pioneer in fashion studies, but she never intended to become an academic. She began her literary career as a feminist activist writing for the underground press, then explored tennis, 'bohemians, and 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 the 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.

Dimension: 216 x 138 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781350232594