Wilfred Mark Webb’s The Heritage of Dress approaches clothing as an evolutionary and anthropological subject, asking why people wear what they do and how garments acquire meaning. Ranging across cultures and centuries, Webb examines the origins of ornament, the survival of outdated forms, and the curious vestiges fossilized in modern dress.
Written in an inquisitive scientific spirit, the book treats buttons, badges, and ceremonial costume as evidence of custom and belief. Webb’s interest in the “why” behind fashion sets it apart from purely descriptive histories. A thoughtful early study in the anthropology of clothing, it is available here as a free EPUB download.