What does it mean to obsess about clothes and appearances? For some of us, deciding what to wear can involve tension and torment as well as delight. What do we mean by 'looking classy' or 'power dressing'? What are the connections - or contradictions - between dress and desire, glamour and feminism? Do our choices reflect or challenge social values and constraints in women's lives?

Appearances is both memoir and cultural history. It considers attitudes to personal appearance through four generations of women in the author's family, weaving memory through a wide-ranging exploration of fashion, femininity and feminism in the recent past.