Weekend Review: The Nature of Fashion

The Nature of Fashion / Carry Somers
Chelsea Green Publishing, c2025.
304 p.

Another read about fashion history, this one is more focused on the natural world and the sociology of how textile development was rooted in local communities, and how trade changed worlds. 

This history of plants and fibre across the world covers a range of eras and places. It moves from the paleolithic to contemporary reflections, which is both a strength and a weakness. It's fascinating to hear all the anecdotes about different plants and how they were used in various cultures, but the range sometimes gave me whiplash, moving around so quickly! 

It covers hemp, indigo, flax and the usual suspects but also delves into lesser known fibres and cultures. The author is a specialist in South America (she started the company Pachacuti and has travelled and lived in South America) so there is quite a bit about that area of the world, which I find is not often the focus of books like this. I did enjoy this and learned quite a bit. 

However, there were a couple of elements that didn't work as well for me. She relies a lot on telling stories in her writing style -- imagining what neolithic spinners were thinking or what kings and explorers were doing on the daily, and so forth. This kind of 'setting the stage' writing doesn't appeal to me, I just like the facts. If I was reading this book I would have skimmed over these sections quickly. But I was listening to the audiobook. It was read by the author, and unfortunately that was also a bit jarring for me at times. The ease with which a professional narrator can tell a story is underrated & there are small things that show the difference. 

Still, overall this was an interesting book, with a different approach to the history of fibre. It shows the labour involved in creating fibres and discovering how to work with plants, from the ice ages to contemporary times. The author is also one of the founders of Fashion Revolution, so you know this is something she really cares about, and that adds weight to the book. A good read, although I'd probably recommend reading it rather than choosing the audio.