Garments the Living Wear Author:James Purdy, James Purdy, James Purdy James Purdy's new novel, Garments the Living Wear, is a vision of evil and dark salvation peopled with bizarre and memorable characters. Satirizing life in New York City in the 1980s, its themes include the scourge of AIDS, criminal conspiracies, the excesses of the superrich, modern evangelism, and love in its many forms.