When Broadway was the runway : theater, fashion, and American culture / Marlis Schweitzer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Schweitzer, Marlis.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Theater--New York (State)--New York--History--19th century.

Theater.

Theater--New York (State)--New York--History--20th century.

Costume--New York (State)--New York--History--19th century.

Costume.

Costume--New York (State)--New York--History--20th century.

Fashion--New York (State)--New York--History--19th century.

Fashion.

Fashion--New York (State)--New York--History--20th century.

Department stores--New York (State)--New York.

Department stores.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (321 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, c2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title" When Broadway Was the Runway" explores the central and largely unacknowledged role of commercial Broadway theater in the birth of modern American fashion and consumer culture. Long before Hollywood's red carpet spectacles, Broadway theater introduced American women to the latest styles. At the beginning of the twentieth century, theater impresarios captured the imagination of their largely female patrons by transforming the stage into a glorious site of consumer spectacle. Theater historian Marlis Schweitzer examines how these impresarios presented the dresses actresses wore onstage, as well as the jewelry and hairstyles they chose, as commodities that were available for purchase in nearby department stores and salons. The Merry Widow Hat, designed for the hit operetta of the same name, sparked an international craze, and the dancer Irene Castle became a fashion celebrity when she anticipated the flapper look of the 1920's by nearly a decade. Not only were the latest styles onstage, but advertisements appeared throughout theaters, in programs, and on the curtains, while magazines such as Vogue vied for the rights to publish theatrical costume sketches and Harper's Bazaar enticed readers with photo spreads of actresses in couture. This combination of spectatorship and consumption was a crucial step in the formation of a mass market for consumer goods and the rise of the cult of celebrity. Through historical analysis and dozens of early photographs and illustrations, Schweitzer aims a spotlight at the cultural and economic convergence of the theater and fashion industries in the United States.

Contents:

The octopus and the matinee girl

The "department store theater" and the gendering of consumption

"The cult of clothes" and the performance of class

Fashioning the modern woman

The theatrical fashion show on Broadway and Sixth Avenue.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [229]-294) and index.

ISBN:

9781283897778

1283897776

9780812206166

0812206169

OCLC:

794702151