Introduction: Charlotte Perkins Gilman on the Symbolism and Sociology of Clothing

In The Dress of Women, Charlotte Perkins Gilman presents a nonfiction analysis of the symbolism and sociology of clothing. Originally published in Gilman\u27s monthly journal, The Forerunner, in 1915, The Dress of Women was serialized, month by month, at the same time as Gilman\u27s well-known novel, Herland, and a year prior to Gilman\u27s companion work, With Her In Ourland: Sequel to Herland. The Dress of Women, published here for the first time in book form, is a lively, nonfiction guidebook to many of the gender issues presented in Gilman\u27s Herland/Ourland saga and provides Gilman\u27s intellectual, philosophical, and sociological insight into the ethical situations and plot developments that are simultaneously explored in her two didactic novels