Glamour: A History

by Stephen Gundle

Overview

Here is the first ever history of glamour, ranging from Paris in the tumultuous final decades of the eighteenth century through to Hollywood, New York, and Monte Carlo in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, from the glamorous fictional characters of Walter Scott to iconic figures such as Marlene Dietrich and Marilyn Monroe to modern idols such as Paris Hilton. The book maps the origins of glamour and investigates the forms that it took in modern times, discussing the role of writers, journalists, artists, photographers, film-makers and fashion designers, occupations like the model and the air stewardess, cities and resorts such as Paris, New York, and Monte Carlo, and products including luxury cars and jets—all of which are bathed in the public mind with the magical aura of glamour. And he shows how glamour feeds on the middle class yearning for a thrilling and colorful life, a yearning reinforced by the cinema and the press, which serve as a stage for acting out scenes of a desirable life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199569786
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/28/2009
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	502
Product dimensions:	5.10(w) x 7.70(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Stephen Gundle is Professor of Film and Television Studies at Warwick University.

Table of Contents

Introduction1. Walter Scott and the origins of glamour2. 1. Building the shopping city in London and Paris3. The birth of sex appeal4. Wealth and style in the gilded age5. Café society and the publicity phenomenon6. The Hollywood star system7. The Riviera touch8. Glamour for the masses9. Photography and the public image10. Style, pastiche, and excess11. Harlots and heiressesConclusion

Editorial Reviews

Herwitz (humanities, Univ. of Michigan; Aesthetics: Key Concepts in Philosophy) examines some complex explanations for the role of celebrity in popular culture. Referring to numerous examples of celebrity icons (e.g., Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly), he pays particular attention to Princess Diana, who embodied many of the divergent facets of an icon in modern society-eliciting high public admiration yet prompting a media obsession with her personal problems and tragedies. Herwitz skillfully analyzes the tightly interwoven components of this pattern, citing relationships to television, film, and escalating consumerism-all playing a role in the building up and tearing down of icons, a process that loses sight of the celebrity as an individual. Herwitz approaches the subject with intelligence and fine scholarship and offers much to think about.

Yet another tantalizing element of the celebrity mystique is glamour-a maddeningly indefinable quality sought by many but seemingly attainable by only a few. Gundle (film & television studies, Warwick Univ.; Bellissima: Feminine Beauty and the Idea of Italy) takes an expansive look at glamour from past to present in a narrative rich with captivating details and commentary. He examines the many categories in which glamour is measured-wealth, sex appeal, beauty, spectacle, daring, urban sophistication, professions, and products. He discusses its arbiters-photographers, major magazines, writers-and some of its diverse symbols through time such as Marie Antoinette, Marlene Dietrich, Gianni Versace, and Princess Diana, setting their historical context and discussing their eccentricities, excesses, and style-setting trends. Gundlesums up glamour as a look, action, or way of life more fascinating and colorful than that of its audience. Both of these books are essential for those with a keen interest in the sociology of popular culture and stardom.
—Carol J. Binkowski

Library Journal

"This book captures the tantalizing appeal of glamour while exposing its sleazy underside."—The Standard

"Well researched and thoughtfully written, this book manages to be an excellent read and will appeal to anyone interested in popular culture."—Sarah Jenkins, The Guardian

"Gundle is brilliant at the old razzle-dazzle."—Veronica Horwell, Saturday Guardian

"This book is a thoroughly comprehensive and meticulously researched history of glamour."—Times Literary Supplement

"A narrative rich with captivating details and commentary.... Essential for those with a keen interest in the sociology of popular culture and stardom."—Library Journal

"A substantial book about an insubstantial, yet somehow fascinating, topic."—The Independent

"Well-researched and thoughtfully written, this book manages to be an excellent read and will to anyone interested in popular culture."—Books Quarterly

"Glamour: A History is on the whole a wonderfully engaging read."—Otago Daily Times

"The book captures the excitement and sex appeal of glamour while exposing its mechanisms and exploring its sleazy and sometimes tragic underside. As Gundle shows, while glamour is exciting and magnetic, its promise is ultimately an illusion that can only ever be partially fulfilled."—Irish Mail on Sunday

"[A] pathbreaking study...Gundle has written the first general history of what has become a central drive of our contemporary consumer culture and its expressions in the popular culture that accompanies it." — Journal of Social History

From the Publisher