Elizabeth Wilson is a pioneer in the development of fashion studies, and has been a university professor, feminist campaigner and activist. Her writing career began in the ‘underground’ magazines of the early 1970s, (Frendz, Red Rag, Spare Rib, Come Together) before she became an academic. She's written for the Guardian and her non-fiction books include Adorned in Dreams (1985, 2003), The Sphinx in the City (1992) (shortlisted for the Manchester Odd Fellows Prize), Bohemians (2000) and Love Game (2014) (long listed for the William Hill sportswriting prize), as well as six crime novels, including War Damage (2009) and The Girl in Berlin (2012) (long listed for the Golden Dagger Award).
A fascinating, often funny, and eminently stylish personal memoir [and] a moving insider's account of radical lives in challenging times ... I loved it. * Chris Breward, Author of The Suit, and Director, National Museums Scotland, UK * Wide-ranging, thought-provoking and important. * Claire Wilcox, Author of Patch Work and Senior Curator of Fashion, V&A * Brilliant and important ... [Wilson] is an exceptionally gifted writer, lucid, direct, engaging, often witty, always stimulating ... [A] book at once sinewy and elegant, rigorous and accessible, tough minded and enjoyable. * Richard Dyer, Professor Emeritus, King's College, London, UK * Elizabeth Wilson has always been an elegant thinker and an elegant dresser. Her memoir recalls a life lived believing both matter in a world that regarded them as mutually exclusive. A pleasure to read. * Alistair O'Neill, Author of London: After Fashion and Professor of Fashion History and Theory, Central Saint Martins, UK * An outstanding chronicler of our times ... [and] a sophisticated and informed cultural commentator. * Helen Taylor, Author of Why Women Read Fiction, and Professor of English, University of Exeter, UK * That such an important figure might now re-view, retrospectively, her own intellectual history, during a long and distinguished career, through the filter of her life and experiences, is incredibly exciting. * Caroline Evans, Professor Emerita, Central Saint Martins, UK *