Lauren Downing Peters is Assistant Professor of Fashion Studies and Director of the Fashion Study Collection at Columbia College Chicago. Her interdisciplinary research broadly explores the entanglements of dress, the body, and identity; histories of American fashion and style; and the past, present, and future of plus-size fashion.
In this impeccably researched and elegantly written book, Lauren Downing Peters explores the complexity of a topic that remains relevant even 100 years after the invention of stoutwear as a fashion category. In content and expression, it exemplifies the best of fashion scholarship and enhances the narrative of 20th-century fashion. * Nancy Deihl, New York University, USA * A fascinating historical genealogy of what we now know today as plus-size fashion. Peters' thorough and extensive historical scholarship, coupled with the clarity of her writing, make this book essential reading for anyone interested to understand the contemporary fashion industry and trace fashion's obsession with body size and shape. * Joanne Entwistle, King's College London, UK * The first history of its kind, this book makes an indispensable contribution to the fields of fashion studies, fat studies and cultural history. * Francesca Granata, Parsons School of Design, The New School, USA *