Fashioning early cinema : dress and representation in American film, 1905-1930

"This thesis explores and analyzes changes in the presentation, and representation, of fashion in American film from 1905 to 1930. The twenty-five year period saw the film industry evolve from a small-scale form of entertainment to a more refined product aimed at a broad audience, including the middle classes. The study begins with the U.S. film industry only ten years old and ends with the beginning of what is now known as Hollywood's "golden age" and the concomitant rise of a distinctive type of Hollywood "glamour." The period between 1905 and 1930 witnessed profound changes in audience, corporate organization, and approaches to design on film, all of which influenced how fashion was displayed to the viewer. This thesis presents a cultural history of fashion in film through five thematically organized chapters: The Fashion and Film Industries in the Progressive Era; World War I and "American" Fashion Design and Film; The Fashion Show on Film; The Rise of the Specialist Film Costume Designer; and A Case Study: Peggy Hamilton, a costume and fashion designer, fashion show impresario, and fashion editor."

"Fashioning early cinema : dress and representation in American film, 1905-1930"