At the mercy of their clothes: modernism, the middlebrow, and British garment culture

In much of modern fiction, it is the clothes that make the character.

Garments embody personal and national histories. They convey wealth, status, aspiration, and morality (or a lack thereof).

They suggest where characters have been and where they might be headed, as well as whether or not they are aware of their fate.

This study explores the agency of fashion in modern literature.

Celia Marshik's study combines close readings of modernist and middlebrow works, a history of Britain in the early twentieth century, and the insights of thing theory.

She focuses on four distinct categories of modern clothing: the evening gown, the mackintosh, the fancy dress costume, and secondhand attire.