From colourful 30,000-year-old threads found in a Georgian cave to the Indian calicoes that sparked the Industrial Revolution, this book weaves a story of human ingenuity in 13, crisply entertaining episodes. A BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, Sunday Times Book of the Year and shortlisted for the Somerset Maugham Award.
“Hugely ambitious, sparklingly erudite, and wonderfully engaging”―Peter Frankopan, History Today
“Joyful and beautiful”―Nature
“Will make you rethink your relationship with fabric”―Elle
“Fascinating…I recommend this book to anyone”―Spectator
“A charming, absorbing history that takes us on a journey from the silk roads to sportswear, from ruffs to spacesuits…[a] quietly feminist book”―Sunday Times
“St. Clair’s descriptions of textiles and the people who created and wore them are sensual and even moving”―The New Yorker