Author(s): Mel Campbell

Fashion

I'm in a change room, flailing around with a dress stuck over my head, trying desperately not to alert the sales assistant to my struggles. Not every change-room experience is as humiliating as this, but the frequent frustrations and 'bad fits' are like loose threads threatening to unravel the self-esteem of just about every shopper. From corsets to skinny jeans, we have always fretted about our body shapes and why it's so damn difficult to find a good fit. In this bold and en tertaining book, Mel Campbell examines the tensions that have always existed in clothing between our cultural ideals and our own bodies. Through lively interviews, her own experiences, and visits to vintage fairs, museums and galleries, Mel explores why we are still so critical of our various shapes and restricted by old-fashioned values. Challenging our perceptions of fashion and debunking myths about size and fit, Out of Shape reveals how, when it comes to clothes, the past and present are cut from the same cloth.