Dress Codes and the Laws of Everyday Life

or why a law professor wrote a fashion history.

I’ve taught law at Stanford for over 20 years and I’ve written several books on civil rights, social justice, urban development and legal philosophy. My latest book follows naturally from these long-term interests. It’s a history of fashion from the Renaissance to the present.

Okay, bear with me for a minute. The book is called Dress Codes: How the Laws of Fashion Made History. It’s really a history of rules about fashion. It’s about rules that tell us…