Flip on the entertainment news, open an issue of a popular magazine, or step into any department store��nd you��l appreciate the impact of the multibillion-dollar fashion industry on American
culture. Yet its origins in the nineteenth-century ��ag trade��of Jewish tailors, cutters, pressers, peddlers, and shopkeepers have yet to be fully explored. In this copiously illustrated
volume, twelve scholars from varied backgrounds consider the role of American Jews in creating, developing, and furthering the national garment industry from the Civil War forward. Drawn from
an award-winning exhibition of the same title at the Yeshiva University Museum, A Perfect Fit provides a fascinating view of American society, culture, and industrialization. Essays address
themes such as the development of the menswear industry; the early film industry and its relationship to American fashion; the relationship of the American industry to Britain and France; the
acculturation of Jewish immigrants and its impact on American garment making; advertising history and popular culture; and regional centers of manufacturing. This multivalent group of essays
compellingly weaves together important threads of the complex history of the American garment industry.
