About this item
The New York Times Book Review - Alexandra Jacobs like another forgotten artifact, the hope chest, [Przybyszewski's] remedial book is most delightfully and fragrantly packed. Publishers Weekly03/03/2014 Both a history and a defense of home economics, this book follows the Dress Doctors, a group of female teachers and writers whose mission, starting in the mid-19th century, was to help women assemble budget-conscious wardrobes with a sense of art and occasion, utilizing rules about color, decoration, and appropriateness. Przybyszewski, a University of Notre Dame historian and prize-winning dressmaker, leaves little doubt as to her opinion of fashion after home economics departments and classes were dismantled in the 1960s: "If the Dress Doctors looked around at womankind today, they would wonder why so many of us are determined to appear ready to seduce at all hours of the day.
About the Author
Linda Przybyszewski grew up outside of Chicago, attended Northwestern University, and earned her Ph.D. in U.S. History at Stanford University. She was trained as a legal historian, but she also comes from a long line of sewing women, and these two sets of skills -- research and dressmaking-- come together in her latest book. She may be the only person to have lectured at the U.S. Supreme Court in a suit she made herself. Professor Pski teaches at the University of Notre Dame.
