All the Rage
On sale
11th April 2024
Price: £25
‘No one else makes history this fun’ AMANDA FOREMAN
‘All the Rage sits you at the dressing table of history: a place of dreams, doubts, self-harm and hopes’ SARAH DITUM, SUNDAY TIMES
‘Wonderfully engaging’ HARPER’S BAZAAR
At the heart of this history is the female body.
The century-span between the crinoline and the bikini witnessed more mutations in the ideal western woman’s body shape than at any other period.
In this richly detailed account, Virginia Nicholson, described as ‘one of the great social historians of our time…’ (Amanda Foreman) takes us to the Frontline of Beauty to reveal the power, the pain and the pleasure involved in adorning the female body.
The Power
Who determines which shape is currently ‘all the rage’? Looking at how custom, colour, class and sex fit into the picture, this book also charts how the advances made by feminism collided with the changing shape of desirability.
The Pain
Here is Gladys, who had botched surgery on her nose; Dorothy, whose skin colour lost her an Oscar; Beccy who took slimming pills and died; and – unbelievably – the radioactive corset.
The Pleasure
Here are the ‘New Women’ who discovered freedom by bobbing their hair; the boyish, athletic ‘Health and Beauty’ ladies in black knickers; and starlets in bohemian beachwear. Among the first to experience true women’s liberation were the early adopters of trousers.
Encompassing two world wars and a revolution in women’s rights, All the Rage tells the story of western female beauty from 1860 to 1960, chronicling its codes, its contradictions, its lies, its highs – and its underlying power struggle.
‘All the Rage sits you at the dressing table of history: a place of dreams, doubts, self-harm and hopes’ SARAH DITUM, SUNDAY TIMES
‘Wonderfully engaging’ HARPER’S BAZAAR
At the heart of this history is the female body.
The century-span between the crinoline and the bikini witnessed more mutations in the ideal western woman’s body shape than at any other period.
In this richly detailed account, Virginia Nicholson, described as ‘one of the great social historians of our time…’ (Amanda Foreman) takes us to the Frontline of Beauty to reveal the power, the pain and the pleasure involved in adorning the female body.
The Power
Who determines which shape is currently ‘all the rage’? Looking at how custom, colour, class and sex fit into the picture, this book also charts how the advances made by feminism collided with the changing shape of desirability.
The Pain
Here is Gladys, who had botched surgery on her nose; Dorothy, whose skin colour lost her an Oscar; Beccy who took slimming pills and died; and – unbelievably – the radioactive corset.
The Pleasure
Here are the ‘New Women’ who discovered freedom by bobbing their hair; the boyish, athletic ‘Health and Beauty’ ladies in black knickers; and starlets in bohemian beachwear. Among the first to experience true women’s liberation were the early adopters of trousers.
Encompassing two world wars and a revolution in women’s rights, All the Rage tells the story of western female beauty from 1860 to 1960, chronicling its codes, its contradictions, its lies, its highs – and its underlying power struggle.
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Reviews
Nicholson's lively, intimate history of beauty . . . All the Rage sits you at the dressing table of history: a place of dreams, doubts, self-harm and hopes.
Virginia Nicholson's history of modern women's dedication to their appearance is full of ironies... She is particularly good on how a body looks when styled according to the fashions and expectations of an era... A compelling account of how . . . women are moulded by dominant ideals
This is a fascinating book: funny, unexpected, forgiving, political, personal, glamorous and yes, quietly, angry.
All the Rage is a perfect title for a book about terrible beauty . . . Nicholson's research, and her talent for shaping her vast material into a compelling, thoughtful tale, are most impressive.
Wonderfully engaging
An unforgettably rich and varied tapestry of the development of female beauty anxiety.
In All the Rage, the incomparable Virginia Nicholson, shaped and armed by her unconventional childhood among the Bloomsbury Set, is unafraid of skewering the social conventions that bound her generation. The tragedy of the myth of beauty, as Nicholson shows, is that it was never a myth. I love her writing
A scintillating survey of the changing face of beauty . . . bold in its scope, yet filled with intriguing details and thoughtful, original analysis.