The House Dress: A Story of Eroticism and Fashion

by Elda Danese

Genres: Fashion, History, Non-fiction
Pages: 150
Rating:

Synopsis:

The idea of the house dress is closely related to the concept of housework and domesticity. At the same time, it is distinguished by not being a uniform, thanks in particular to the decorations of the fabric. Starting in the late 1940s, a whole series of movies contributed to its image through a gallery of remarkable female characters, the latest of which is Pedro Almodovar’s film Volver, with a female lead who is equipped with a wardrobe full of beautifully ornamented house dresses. After taking into account its distinctive and expressive features, author Elda Danese traces the circumstances that led to the success and the worldwide use of the house dress over a period spanning from the 1920s to the present.

Elda Danese’s The House Dress is a pretty dry and academic discussion of the evolution, use and meaning of the house dress, digging into a bit of the history of it, the words used for it, and how it’s been used in cinema as well.

It’s not a subject I know a lot about; a bit from the various fashion history books I’ve read, and a bit from the Great British Sewing Bee (at least, definitely last season’s tribute to Diane von Fürstenberg, but I’m pretty sure I remember other wrap dress/house dress challenges), so this did fill in some gaps, but it was also probably a bit too scholarly for me — where fashion history is concerned, I know very little, enjoy reading about it, and for the most part let the knowledge go again, ahaha.

So overall probably not one for the casual reader, though it does include a lot of reference images!

Rating: 2/5 (“it was okay”)