James Laver (1899-1970) is an English scholar of costumes and curator of the Fashion Fund at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
His studies of dress styles in Europe through the centuries have highlighted the close relationship that exists between appearance and psychological mood: “We wear our spirit, not our body.”
According to Laver, through their wardrobe, men tend to set a hierarchy, whereas women use theirs to attract. Among his books: Costume in Antiquity Clothes (1952) and Modesty In Dress (1969).
