Uniquely challenging the separation of fashion and interior design as isolated traditions, Myzelev (art history, U. of Guelph, Canada) and Potvin (European art and design history, U. of Guelph)
compile 11 case studies that examine three material links central to understanding the relationship between the fields: the body, fabric, and space. Linking these themes to identity and
modernity, a group of art, literature, and history scholars from Canada, the US, and Europe consider the changing visual, material, and spatial character; methodological issues; and formal,
political, and historiographical significance of British, European, and North American case studies from the eighteenth century on, including discussion of aspects of difference like
Orientalism, gender, and sexuality, and separation between public and private. Other essays address fashion and design in the novels of Rachilde, Chinese robes in Western interiors, and
designers Louise and Frederick Coates, Elsie de Wolfe, Eileen Gray, and Giorgio Armani. Annotation 穢2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
