Congratulations to Susan Hiner. Earlier this month, the Costume Society of America awarded the 2011 Millia Davenport Publication Award to Hiner for her book Accessories to Modernity: Fashion and the Feminine in Nineteenth-Century France.
Here’s what the Costume Society of America had to say about Hiner’s work:
Hiner’s book explores historic dress and costume from a unique perspective. Through her examination of nineteenth-century fashion journals, illustrations, and works of some of the most widely read novels of the period, Hiner considers how fashion accessories of the day – shawls, parasols, fans and handbags – were used by women as an important tool to create, project, and maintain social and class distinctions during a time when social boundaries became more fluid. In commending Accessories to Modernity, the members of the committee who evaluated the seven short-listed books praised the author’s depth of analysis and impressive breadth of research, and commended her work on accessories, an often-overlooked topic. They noted that the author’s creative approach put the subject in context and went beyond obvious and accepted interpretations of French nineteenth-century culture.
Susan Hiner is Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies at Vassar College. Accessories to Modernity is now available in cloth and in paperback.
