Benjamin Linley Wild is a cultural historian who writes and lectures about the history of dress. He is Lecturer in Contextual Studies (Fashion) at The Manchester Fashion Institute, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. He has published widely on the subject of fashion and material culture. He is the author of A Life in Fashion: The Wardrobe of Cecil Beaton (2016).
... An eloquent overview of a topic that is all too often overlooked in fashion studies. Wild provides thoughtful social, political, and personal connections that underscore the broad significance of fancy dress throughout history and today. * Colleen Hill, Curator of Costume and Accessories, The Museum at FIT, USA * Wild has made an enormous contribution to the study of dress by bringing fancy dress to the forefront of scholarship. Often considered too frivolous for serious study, Wild demonstrates that fancy dress is a strategy used by people around the world and over time, to make sense of changing times. * Sandra Lee Evenson, University of Idaho, USA * Benjamin Wild's transnational study of fancy dress costumes and their sociohistorical contexts is an impressive feat of scholarly synthesis. Wild's case studies-ranging from royalty to renegades, from playful costumes to purposeful masks-illustrate the enduring mystique and ambivalent cultural value of fancy dress across the centuries. * Colleen McQuillen, University of Southern California, USA *