Dress, Law and Naked Truth

"In a finely fluent and eruditely entertaining fashion, Dress, Law and Naked Truth provides a radical revival of the philosophy of clothes for common lawyers. Watt's sartorial jurisprudence draws upon the rich history and homology of costume and custom, livery and law, body art and habeas corpus, to show that the social contract could never be nudum pactum because habit is of the essence of law." --Professor Peter Goodrich, Professor of Law and Director of Law and Humanities, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, New York, USA

"Professor Watt's book represents such a dramatic leap forward in legal thought about dress that it demands the recognition of a new category of scholarship. Dress, Law and Naked Truth presents an array of startlingly original ideas about the relationship between dress and the law. Happily, Watt's book manages to combine intellectual heft with beautifully crafted prose, making it not only a remarkable scholarly accomplishment, but also a joy to read." --Charles Colman, NYU School of Law and Director of the Center for Study of Fashion, Law and Society, USA

"What does the seemingly superficial subject of fashion have to do with the serious realm of law? Dress, Law and Naked Truth offers an indispensable study of law and its surprisingly profound sartorial imagination. More than simply registering the law's propensity for a rhetoric that likes to flirt with the conceit of 'dress, ' Gary Watt shows us the deep philosophic connections between the articulations of cultural order and sartorial discipline. This smart and elegantly written book is a must-read for anyone interested in legal studies, literary and cultural studies, and the politics of fashion." --Anne Anlin Cheng, Princeton University, USA, author of Second Skin: Josephine Baker and the Modern Surface

"Watt presents a refreshing, philosophical interdisciplinary approach. Analysing the intersections of law, fashion, society and the individual, this book challenges the reader to think about boundaries and regulations which govern how we understand the human dressed body as a marker of distinction in the civilized world... The book cannot be treated as a quick reference guide to historical legal interventions relating to dress. Nor is it designed to offer the reader a comprehensive overview of the history of legal dress. It must be considered and absorbed... this is an excellent book and would benefit researchers who embrace an interdisciplinary approach. As it is the first of its kind, it will inevitably generate further academic debate across a broad spectrum." --Uthra Rajgopal, writing in the journal Costume (2015)