Claire Wilcox

An exploration of the role of the handbag in the history of culture, fashion, and material production The history of the handbag—its design, how it has been made, used, and worn—reveals something essential about women's lives over the past 500 years. Perhaps the most universal item of fashionable adornment, it can also be elusive, an object of desire, secrecy, and even fear. Handbags explores these rich histories and multiple meanings.This book features specially commissioned photographs of an extraordinary, newly formed collection of fashionable handbags that date from the 16th century to the present day. It has been acquired for exhibition in the first museum devoted to the handbag, in Seoul, South Korea. The project is a commission undertaken by experimental exhibition-maker Judith Clark, whose innovative practices are revealed in Handbags.Essays by leading fashion historians and an acclaimed psychoanalyst investigate the history of gesture, the psychoanalysis of bags, and the museum's state-of-the-art mannequins and archive cabinets. In order to preserve the words that describe the unique qualities of each bag, a terminology of handbags has been compiled.Published in association with the Simone Handbag Museum, Seoul

A powerful guide to help you overcome food addiction and improve your health. Have you ever wondered why you're addicted to certain foods? Would it shock you to learn that the food industry engineers food products with the express purpose of getting you hooked? With millions wrestling with food addiction, is it any surprise that much of what is meant to sustain us is in fact making us sick? The increasing dependence on unhealthy, ultra-processed foods invites a host of health problems--from obesity and heart disease to diabetes. So, how can you break free from this destructive cycle? Written by an addiction psychiatrist with decades of experience, this powerful guide combines proven-effective techniques based in addiction and eating disorder treatments to help you overcome the unhealthy food habit, once and for all. In addition to real-world stories from others who have battled food addiction, you'll learn how certain foods can actually alter your neurochemistry--lighting up reward centers in your brain just like nicotine, alcohol, and other drugs. Most importantly, you'll discover how to move beyond the self-blame, shame, and internalized stigma that is associated with food addiction, so you can start taking steps toward lasting recovery. If you're trapped in a never-ending cycle of yo-yo dieting, crazy cravings, and binging (with or without purging), this evidence-based guide can help you get back on track. It's time to say goodbye to "big food," and the packaged products that keep you from nourishing and enriching both your body and mind. This powerful book can help you get started today.

An impeccably researched and beautifully produced concise history of bags through the ages, with examples drawn from the Victoria and Albert Museum's remarkable collection. From the hand-stitched embroidered purses of the 16th century, to the ‘make-do-and-mend’ bags of the war years and the rise of the ‘It’ bag in the 2000s, bags reflect the needs and desires of their users, as well as the changing attitudes to fashion. Focusing on the V&A’s world-famous collection, Bags tells the story of the bag from the earliest leather pouches through to today’s covetable, luxury pieces.

Anyone who has ever found the configuration of the Bible to be confusing will enjoy The Seven Days: Making Sense of the Bible's Structure. Claire Wilcox asks, "If all Scripture is God-breathed, then wouldn't the Bible's structure also be divinely inspired?" For both veteran and new readers of the Bible, this book provides a thought-provoking look at the creation that reveals God's plan for salvation woven throughout the structure of the Bible. Its canonical sequence of sixty-six books finally makes sense. Rather than a stand-alone narrative, the first creation story of Genesis can be read as the thematic key to the God-breathed structural organization of the Bible. By correlating sense and structure to the entire biblical canon for each of the seven days of creation, the author breaks new ground. Discover great and hidden things that go far beyond anything you've ever known by using structural analysis to understand the Bible.

Anyone who has ever found the configuration of the Bible to be confusing will enjoy The Seven Days: Making Sense of the Bible's Structure. Claire Wilcox asks, "If all Scripture is God-breathed, then wouldn't the Bible's structure also be divinely inspired?" For both veteran and new readers of the Bible, this book provides a thought-provoking look at the creation that reveals God's plan for salvation woven throughout the structure of the Bible. Its canonical sequence of sixty-six books finally makes sense. Rather than a stand-alone narrative, the first creation story of Genesis can be read as the thematic key to the God-breathed structural organization of the Bible. By correlating sense and structure to the entire biblical canon for each of the seven days of creation, the author breaks new ground. Discover great and hidden things that go far beyond anything you've ever known by using structural analysis to understand the Bible.

WINNER OF THE 2021 PEN ACKERLEY PRIZE‘A strange and mesmerising piece of work’ Sunday Times ‘An absolute masterpiece’ Laura Cumming‘An uncommon delight’ Observer Claire Wilcox has been a curator of fashion at the Victoria and Albert Museum for most of her working life. In Patch Work, she turns her curator’s eye to the fabric of life itself, tugging at the threads of memory: a cardigan worn by a child, a tin button box, the draping of a curtain, a pair of cycling shorts, a roll of lace, a pin hidden in a seam. Through these intimate and compelling close-ups, we see how the stories and the secrets of clothes measure out the passage of time, our gains and losses, and the way we use them to unravel and write our histories. ‘Effervescent, poetic, puzzle-like ... Wilcox picks at the heartstrings’ Financial Times

Revealing the elaborate embroidery, intricate pleats and daring cuts that make up some of the 20th century’s most beautiful garments, this book explores the specific techniques used by couturiers as tastes and textile technologies evolved. Work by designers such as Mariano Fortuny, Madeleine Vionnet, Paul Poiret, Hubert de Givenchy, Mary Quant, Yves Saint Laurent and Vivienne Westwood is rediscovered, and exquisite haute-couture pieces, from sequinned Chanel trouser suits and richly embroidered Schiaparelli jackets to striking Balenciaga creations and Dior evening gowns, are examined. Part of the ‘Fashion in Detail’ series, this updated edition features a revised introduction and list of designers followed by chapters dedicated to a particular technique. Each garment is illustrated through detailed photography and line drawings and is accompanied by a commentary by leading experts in textiles and fashion. An extraordinary exploration of the techniques used by couturiers in the construction of these exceptional garments, 20th-Century Fashion in Detail will delight all followers of fashion.