the chapter on the consumer. The Mongols invaded Afghanistan in 1221, and their booty was a thousand weavers who could weave cloth of gold which could make them more money than the actual gold itself. She describes the Italian sumptuary laws that forbade the middle class from wearing extravagant clothing of vivid hues and designs that should have been worn only by aristocrats. Middle class women, therefore, paid exorbitant fines to wear extravagant clothing. She describes a green woolen coat embroidered in gold with forest imagery of deer, birds, and trees. Another woman sported a coat of striped, red wool with real silver stars; and the descriptions continue. For ten florins, a woman could have silk covered buttons; but a wool dress with silk patterns could set her back fifty. European fabrics consisted mostly of wool and hemp; later some silk was grown and manufactured in Italy and France. When cotton arrived in France, it was the rage. France wanted to protect its own textile industry from this foreign usurper; but French women were willing to be arrested for wearing this cool, easily washed fabric with its brilliant and lasting colors. After 75 years, France finally had to give up. Women could
wear huge floral prints or put them on sofas without fear of arrest. She ends the book with a chapter on innovators, describing the beginnings of polyester in the 1930s to 3D knitting today. Imagine the rage when women were first able to buy nylon stockings instead of the expensive, delicate silk ones. Imagine being able to design your own patterns and have them reproduced in fabric. The textile world has gone from twisting string together, to labor-intensive carding and weaving by hand, to the seeming ease with which we today casually discard clothing to thrift shops because textiles are so abundant and relatively cheap. Postrel’s book obviously will fascinate not only any individual interested in clothing and fashion but also all who want to understand the advancement of humankind from the Neanderthals to modern man. For more information on the Natchez Literary and Cinema Celebration (NLCC), please visit our website h t t p s : / / w w w. c o l i n . e d u / c o m m u n i t y / natchez-literary-and-cinema-celebration/. Judy Wiggins is a retired Humanities Coordinator for Copiah-Lincoln Community College, Natchez Campus..
Page 18 { September / October 2021 { Bluffs & Bayous
