From Barthes to Baudrillard and from Butler to Bourdieu each chapter addresses design and material culture with reference to theoretical issues and personal analysis. Dress History through early ownership of the Singer Sewing machine is revealed through oral history interviews. Graphic design ephemera is explored in relation to sub-cultural groups in Rave culture and Modernist Tropical suburban developments on the Australian Eastern seaboard are investigated and considered as desirable urban design for global communities. Interior design history is followed by a consideration of women's bodies and Elle magazine blogs. Running through the book is the theme of cultural and individual identity in our late modern western world and the objects we use that signify who we are and what it all means in both human and design history.