Maine Historical Society - Programs Podcast

Recorded April 13, 2022 - Dress codes are as old as clothing itself. For centuries, clothing has been a wearable status symbol; fashion, a weapon in struggles for social change; and dress codes, a way to maintain political control. Even in today’s more informal world, dress codes still determine what we wear, when we wear it, and what our clothing means. In his book Dress Codes: How the Laws of Fashion Made History , law professor and cultural critic Richard Thompson Ford presents a thought provoking history of the laws of fashion to uncover and examine the canons, mores, and customs of clothing--rules we often take for granted.