This book has the potential to make a contribution to many fields: fashion and film history, film theory, design history and popular culture studies. It is extremely well written, well referenced, well argued and well researched. - Caroline Evans, Professor of Fashion History and Theory at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, UK
Cracking open cultural historian Michelle Tolini Finamore's new book, Hollywood Before Glamour: Fashion in American Silent Film, I expected musings on early cinematic costumes, a few new anecdotes about Gloria Swanson and perhaps a little social context.
The surprise is that in spending five years researching addressing the ways in which the nascent American fashion and film industries intersected... a hundred years ago, Finamore has unearthed so much original research relevant to issues again facing the industry and culture at large. From the Swanson archive in Austin and the Library of Congress to the British Film Institute to rare original films and newsreels, Finamore's topics piece together a cultural history of two industries on the cusp, and deserve a readership outside of academia. - Nathalie Atkinson, Canadian National Post
- Nominated as one of the best film books of 2013 - Huffington Post