Pazazz

From bridal gowns and White Parties to shrouds, an illuminating look at the power of our palest apparel.

Pazazz examines the complex meanings of white clothing throughout history. Delicate and impractical, white cloth in the past was difficult to obtain, as well as to keep clean. It is a symbol of purity but also of class superiority, privilege, and the display of leisure.

It represents the menace of the Ku Klux Klan, but also the transition of a bride to the married state. It can be the appropriate dress for mourning and shrouds. White lace is ethereal; straitjackets are tough stuff. White clothing has been a marker of innocence and simplicity for women, but also of calculated, high-maintenance fashion. And for men, white can be evidence of power.

But for many, white is a startling absence of colour, the epitome of elegance. No matter how you view this lightest of hues and its place in your wardrobe, Pazazz sheds a bright white light on the complex nature of fair fashion.

'From bridal wear to the Ku Klux Klan, an exploration of the complex meanings of white clothing throughout history; sometimes a symbol of purity but also of class superiority, privilege and the display of leisure.' - Bookseller

'A truly fascinating, even radiant book: a long-needed history of the no-colour-and super-colour-that can clothe us in virtue, cleanness, light. Edwards illuminates the ambiguity of this colour of life and death, its difficult practicalities, and its luxuries and delights.' - John Harvey, author of The Story of Black

'Edwards looks beyond white as the colour of purity and virtuous cleanliness to reveal a deeper and sometimes sinister history of white clothing as a tool for moral and social distinction. From the supernatural to the authoritative, and from cradle to grave, white clothing enshrouds human life.' - Serena Dyer, lecturer in history of design and material culture, De Montfort University, and author of Material Lives: Women Makers and Consumer Culture in the Eighteenth Century

'In these intriguing pages discover the power of white clothing, from the Athenian gods of fashion to Jackie Kennedy's love for this "most ceremonial colour."' - Peter McNeil, distinguished professor in design history, University of Technology Sydney