Erin Mackie Livres

How eighteenth-century fashion publications assumed a leading role in defining women's legitimate sphere of activities. In Market à la Mode , Erin Mackie examines the role that The Tatler and The Spectator , two eighteenth-century British lifestyle magazines, played in the growth of fashion and how they influenced their readers. She traces the commercial context in which they operated, focusing on the processes of commodification, fetishization, and revisions of gender identity. Mackie's study makes clear that fashion publications, far from being commentaries on passing trends, assumed a leading role in defining women's legitimate sphere of activities as well as in the development of commerce as recreation.

The book delves into the interconnected histories of the modern polite English gentleman and various notorious eighteenth-century masculine figures, including the rake, highwayman, and pirate. Erin Mackie examines how these contrasting archetypes reflect societal values and perceptions of masculinity during that era, revealing the complexities and cultural significance of these characters in shaping modern notions of gentlemanly behavior.