Overview

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. Dress codes evolved along with the social and political ideals of the day, but they always reflected struggles for power and status. In the 1700s, South Carolina's Negro Act made it illegal for Black people to dress above their condition. In the 1920s, the bobbed hair and form-fitting dresses worn by free-spirited flappers were banned in workplaces throughout the United States, and in the 1940s the baggy zoot suits favored by Black and Latino men caused riots in cities from coast to coast. Even in today's more informal world, dress codes still determine what we wear, when we wear it--and what our clothing means. And even when there are no written rules, implicit dress codes still influence opportunities and social mobility. Silicon Valley CEOs wear t-shirts and flip flops, setting the tone for an entire industry: women wearing fashionable dresses or high heels face ridicule in the tech world and some venture capitalists refuse to invest in any company run by someone wearing a suit. In Dress Codes, law professor and cultural critic Richard Thompson Ford presents an insightful and entertaining history of the laws of fashion from the middle ages to the present day.

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Narrator Bill Andrew Quinn uses a strong voice and steady pace to narrate this study of fashion's written and unwritten rules through the ages. His deep pitch and sophisticated tone fit discussions of power dressing and status symbols.-- AudioFile Narrator Bill Andrew Quinn uses a strong voice and steady pace to narrate this study of fashion's written and unwritten rules through the ages. His deep pitch and sophisticated tone fit discussions of power dressing and status symbols...Quinn emphasizes key words with pauses and a slight uptick in volume to convey subtle meaning in historical passages. -- AudioFile Sharp and entertaining. -- Wall Street Journal

Author Information

Richard Thompson Ford is a professor at Stanford Law School. He has written about law, social and cultural issues, and race relations for the New York Times, the Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and Slate, and has appeared on The Colbert Report and The Rachel Maddow Show. He is the author of the New York Times notable books The Race Card and Rights Gone Wrong: How Law Corrupts the Struggle for Equality. He lives in San Francisco. Bill Andrew Quinn has been narrating audiobooks for a myriad of publishers since 1992. A nationally recognized voice actor, he has done campaigns for Coke Zero, ESPN, and Totino's while also conducting music and informational research for his own radio show. He currently resides in the New York City area, where he enjoys sampling craft beer and watching his beloved St. Louis Cardinals play on the MLB Network.

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