A Perfect Fit: The Garment Industry and American Jewry, 1860-1960

Flip on the entertainment news, open an issue of a popular magazine, or step into any department store and you ll appreciate the impact of the multibillion-dollar fashion industry on American culture. Yet its origins in the nineteenth-century rag trade of Jewish tailors, cutters, pressers, peddlers, and shopkeepers have yet to be fully explored. In this copiously illustrated volume, 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."