ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book documents the production side of structured clothing from a queen's farthingale to a flapper's longline corselet. It also documents foundational garments from 1460 to the beginning of the twentieth century. The book presents a model for fully accessing the "mother tongue" and provides a production schema. It utilizes the iconic, the verbal and the technological to give context and layers to the culture, history and lived experiences of the real women who wore the garments. The book considers the ideal body of the different periods, but not merely through the usual avenues of painting or sculpture. It uncovers one controversy: the displacement of the male body by the expansive space of the female hoop skirt—something that may be less common in contemporary practice, but that is, nevertheless, worth considering in certain cultural arenas.
