'This bold, sensitive and beautifully written book probes the seams where art and life collide, exploring the material realities - and imaginative possibilities - revealed by the intriguing clothes of these fascinating modernist women. Oliver's embodied approach is fresh, suggestive and revealing; this is a serious, sensual history, showing how these women's desires, politics, tastes and ideals drove them each to refashion the past and make language their own.' Francesca Wade, author of Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife 'Sophie Oliver not only writes brilliantly about the history of garments, she writes about the bodies in them and the narratives that made and unmade them, dressed and undressed them. This is an essential work of scholarship and insight and heart and care.' Hilton Als, author of The Women 'This tender, stimulating and rigorous book is a must for anyone who takes clothes - and the stories they tell about our world - seriously.' Amy Key, author of Arrangements in Blue 'Sophie Oliver is a marvellously astute writer on the cultural significance of fashion. Here, bringing her characteristic elegance to a study of some of the most significant cultural figures of the past two hundred years, she has written a book that is both ingenious and a joy to read. I loved it.

' Miranda Seymour, author of I Used to Live Here Once: The Haunted Life of Jean Rhys 'Revelations from the very first page: Sophie Oliver writes with authority, passion, insight and joy.' Charlie Porter, author of What Artists Wear 'What kind of text is a dress? Sophie Oliver honours women's garments as historic documents inscribed with aspirations, labour histories, political convictions and illicit desires. These silks and cottons, buttons and frills once housed bodies full of complex and unruly urges, and were witness to the rebellious lives and radical work of women artists and writers. Vivid, scholarly and rich with fascinating detail.' Hettie Judah, author of Acts of Creation: On Art and Motherhood 'Extraordinary, profound and inspiring. every chapter felt like a form of magic.' Claire Wilcox, author of Patch Work: A Life Amongst Clothes 'Sophie Oliver's What the dresses know looks to the clothes of some of modernism's most pioneering women to propose an alternative history of creativity and the search for personal freedom. A richly detailed, elegant and absorbing study.

' Harriet Baker, author of Rural Hours: The Country Lives of Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Townsend Warner and Rosamond Lehmann ' What the dresses know is rich and comprehensive, a history of modernism that brings the past to life. A vivid manifesto for the historical weight of clothes.' Eleanor Medhurst, author of Unsuitable: A History of Lesbian Fashion.