“What is fashionable is not always glamorous, and glamour has not always been fashionable” says Carol Dyhouse (p.3), in her entertaining and thought-provoking Glamour: Women, History, Feminism. Glamour, and a taste for it, have morphed in the wake of social and cultural trends, economic swings, and increasing financial independence for women. Though frequently dismissed as yet another manifestation of women’s conformity and subjugation to men, glamour can be, according to Dyhouse, a form of assertive femininity, an expression of power, defiance, transgression and aspiration.

Across this richly illustrated, seven-chapter book, images and embodiments of glamour unfold chronologically from the late nineteenth century to the present. Along with the usual suspects (feathers and furs, “Cleopatra” eyes, bias-cut gowns, red lipstick), Dyhouse presents the less obvious glamour of second-wave feminism (Germaine Greer, Erica Jong, Gloria Steinem) and high-end grunge. Analyzing the content of popular fiction, cinema, women’s magazines and several published surveys, Dyhouse tells the story of how English women have embraced — or eschewed — glamour in their daily lives. With the widespread allure of Hollywood films in the 1930s (imagine the screen as a canvas of black and white, where texture and light, glittering fabrics and jewels take precedence over color), and the trans-Atlantic “youthquake” of the 60s, American cultural influences often play a key part in this scenario. As the decades pass, from the 70s’ “natural look” to the showy, conspicuous consumption of the 1980s, glamour gradually loses its edge.

With evolving fashion came new fragrances…

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