Dress and fashion practices in Africa and the diaspora are dynamic and diverse, whether on the street or on the fashion runway. Focusing on the dressed body as a performance site, African Dress explores how ideas and practices of dress contest or legitimize existing power structures through expressions of individual identity and the cultural and political order. Drawing on innovative, interdisciplinary research by established and up and coming scholars, the book examines real life projects and social transformations that are deeply political, revolving around individual and public goals of dignity, respect, status, and morality. With its remarkable scope, this book will attract students and scholars of fashion and dress, material culture and consumption, performance studies, and art history in relation to Africa and on a global scale.

The fashion model's hold on popular consciousness is undeniable. How did models emerge as such powerful icons in modern consumer culture? This volume brings together cutting-edge articles on fashion models, examining modelling through race, class and gender, as well as its structure as an aesthetic marketplace within the global fashion economy. Essays include treatments of the history of fashion modelling, exploring how concerns about racial purity and the idealization of light skinned black women shaped the practice of modelling in its early years. Other essays examine how models have come to define femininity through consumer culture. While modelling's global nature is addressed throughout, chapters deal specifically with model markets in Australia and Tokyo, where nationalist concerns colour what is considered a pretty face. It also considers how models glamorize consumption through everyday activities, and neoliberal labour forms via reality TV. With commentaries from industry professionals who experienced the cultural juggernaut of the supermodels, the final essay situates their impact within the rise of brand culture and the globalization of fashion markets since 1990. Accessible and highly engaging, Fashioning Models is essential reading for students and scholars of fashion and related disciplines.

This book explains the history of British occupational c.1750-1950 - a period that saw the decline of many traditional forms of employment, the emergence of new jobs and the reorganisation of various roles to meet the changing demands of the workplace and wider society. Dress is a potent expression of human existence and the diverse occupational gear worn over reflects vividly the daily working lives of past generations. Drawing on historical material and new internet resources, this guide demonstrates the adaptation of regular clothes for manual tasks, development of civilian uniforms and evolution of protective garments. Including the dress of agricultural labourer, fisher folk, domestic servants, miners, mill workers and more, it should be of particular interest to family historians researching ancestors' occupations, as well as costume enthusiasts and designers.

This is the most informative book available for the collector of buttons, written by a second-generation collector who has traveled the world over to expand her knowledge of this exciting collectible. The book presents over 10,000 buttons of all imaginable materials from 150 AD to the present in full color and relates their history and development around the world. Buttons have been the fastest growing part of the collecting world for the last few years, and this book tells you about the trends in this vast field of collecting. A number of buttons have gone up ten times in value in the past few years alone! This book is certain to become the "Bible" for the button enthusiast, dealer, or anyone who loves beautiful objects.

The interrelationship between fashion and celebrity is now a salient and pervasive feature of the media world. This accessible text presents the first in-depth study of the phenomenon, assessing the degree to which celebrity culture has reshaped the fashion system.

"Fashion and Celebrity Culture" critically examines the history of this relationship from its growth in the nineteenth century to its mutation during the twentieth century to the dramatic changes that have transpired in the last two decades. It addresses the fashion-celebrity nexus as it plays itself out across mainstream cinema, television and music and in the celebrity status of a range of designers, models and artists. It explores the strategies that have enabled visual culture to recast itself in the new climate of celebrity obsession, popular culture and the art world to respond adaptively to its insistent pressures.

With its engaging analysis and case studies from Lillian Gish to Louis Vuitton to Lady Gaga, "Fashion and Celebrity Culture" is of major interest to students of fashion, media studies, film, television studies and popular culture, and anyone with an interest in this global phenomenon.

This text is designed to introduce undergraduate students to the central concepts of fashion trend analysis and forecasting. Exploring the roles of both consumers and industry personnel as product developers, gatekeepers, and promoters of fashion trends, the book demonstrates how and why forecasting is vital to successful product and brand development. Fashion Trends: Analysis and Forecasting covers a wide range of key topics, such as the impact of fashion consumption on the environment, economic development, and socio-cultural change, as well as the impact of social responsibility and the digital consumer on current fashion trends. Designed to aid teaching and learning, each chapter includes key words, summaries, engaging case studies, discussion questions, and suggested class activities. Using this book as a guide, students will develop an understanding of the process, methods, and influence of trend analysis and forecasting for the fashion business, and will be encouraged to think through the core issues creatively. An essential text for students of fashion and design.

How do we understand glamour? Has it empowered women or turned them into objects? Once associated with modernity and the cutting edge, is it entirely bound up with nostalgia and tradition? This unique and fascinating book tells the story of glamour. It explores the changing meanings of the word, its relationship to femininity and fashion, and its place in twentieth century social history. Using a rich variety of sources - from women's magazines and film to social surveys and life histories - Carol Dyhouse examines with wit and insight the history and meaning of costume, cosmetics, perfume and fur. Dyhouse disentangles some of the arguments surrounding femininity, appearance and power, directly addressing feminist concerns. The book explores historical contexts in which glamour served as an expression of desire in women and an assertion of entitlement to the pleasures of affluence, finally arguing that glamour can't simply be dismissed as oppressive, or as male fantasy, but can carry celebratory meanings for women.

The tumultuous events during and after two world wars changed society forever.The new status of women no longer prepared to be tied to the home, a major re-adjustment of the class system, the pill and new sexual mores. Clothes and fashion played an important role in perceptions of social advancement, and man-made textiles supplied modern fabrics inexpensive enough to open up mass markets. They provided the easy-care demanded by the new consumer society. Written in an easy-to-read style this book covers the history, invention and textile technology of the main fibres including rayon, nylon, polyester and acrylics. Fashion, textile, sex , and high street retailer stories are closely entwined within that history. Anecdotes and illustrations add period character.

Muslims in Britain and cosmopolitan cities throughout the West are increasingly choosing to express their identity and faith through dress, whether by wearing colourful headscarves, austere black garments or creative new forms of Islamic fashion. Why is dress such an important issue for Muslims? Why is it such a major topic of media interest and international concern? This timely and important book cuts through media stereotypes of Muslim appearances, providing intimate insights into what clothes really mean to the people who design and wear them. It examines how different ideas of fashion, politics, faith, freedom, beauty, modesty and cultural diversity are articulated by young British Muslims as they seek out clothes which best express their identities, perspectives and concerns. It also explores the wider social and political effects of their clothing choices on the development of transnational cultural formations and multicultural urban spaces. Based on contemporary ethnographic research, the book is an essential read for students and scholars of religion, sociology, cultural studies, anthropology and fashion as well as anyone interested in cultural diversity and the changing face of cosmopolitan cities throughout the world.

This book documents the rise (and rise) of fashion design in China. Told through the stories of three generations of designers: those born in the 1950s and early 1960s during the Cultural Revolution when fashion in China was isolated from the rest of the world; those born in the 1970s, who are now attempting to integrate China into the global fashion industry; and those born in the 1980s, who are becoming an emerging force in China.Chinese fashion in the past half-century is a fascinating case study. The country began the period in isolation and went through a phase of militant anti-fashion ideology. However, sixty years on, China is seeking to challenge the world in all fields of endeavour, including fashion design and manufacture. Written by an 'insider', this book provides a fascinating survey based on the personal, professional and creative experiences of the most influential Chinese fashion designers. As such, it will be welcomed by all students of contemporary fashion and design.

From booties and scarves to art and fashion, "The Culture of Knitting" addresses knitting since 1970. Investigating knitting as art, craft, design, fashion, performance and as an aspect of the everyday, the text uncovers the cultural significance of knitting. Drawing on a variety of sources, including interviews with knitters from different disciplines as well as amateurs, the text breaks down hierarchical boundaries and stereotypical assumptions that have hitherto negated the academic study of knitting, and it highlights the diversity and complexity of knitting in all its guises. "The Culture of Knitting" investigates not merely why knitting is so popular now, but the reasons why knitting has such longevity. By assessing the literature of knitting, manuals, patterns, social and regional histories, alongside testimonial discussions with artists, designers, craftspeople and amateurs, it offers new ways of seeing, new methods of critiquing knitting, without the constraints of disciplinary boundaries in the hope of creating an environment in which knitting can be valued, recognized and discussed.

Fashion is bound up with promoting the "new," concerned with constantly changing aesthetics. The favored styles or looks of a season arise out of the work of a vast range of different actors who collectively produce, select, distribute and promote the new ideals, before moving on next season. If fashion is defined, in part, by the incessant requirement to be "new," this requirement means aesthetic qualities are always in motion and, therefore, unstable. How, then, are fashionable commodities stabilized long enough for them to be calculated--i.e., selected, distributed and sold--by those critically placed inside the fashion system? Since there are few studies that actually examine the work that goes on inside the world of fashion we know little about these processes. "Fashion and the Cultural Economy" addresses this gap in our knowledge by examining how aesthetic products are defined, distributed and valued. It focuses attention on the work of some of the market agents, in particular model agents or "bookers" and fashion buyers, shaping the aesthetics inside their markets. In analyzing their work, Entwistle develops a theoretical framework for understanding the distinctive features of aesthetic marketplaces and the aesthetic calculations within them.

Fashion in Fiction examines the ways in which dress 'performs' in a wide range of contemporary and historical literary texts. Essays by North American, European and Australian scholars explore the function of clothing within fictional narratives, including those of film, television and advertising. The book provides a groundbreaking examination of the interconnected worlds of fashion and words, providing perspectives from socio-cultural, historical and theoretical readings of fashion and text-based communication.Covering a variety of genres and periods, Fashion in Fiction analyses fashion's role within a range of creative media, exploring the many ways that dress communicates, disrupts and modulates meaning across different cultures and contexts.

While much attention has been paid to the making of Paris in the work of writers and artists, little is known about the city as defined and created by the fashion media. Filling this gap in studies of the French capital, this original and illuminating book focuses on how the French fashion press--with its rich conjunction of words and images--has been able to construct Paris as a leading world fashion city.

Based in an original analysis of fashion writing and images in contemporary French fashion magazines and newspapers, the book shows how the fashion media have been central to the consecration of the city of Paris on the fashion map, as well as its celebration in the collective imaginary. Agnes Rocamora explores, for example, the figures of "la Parisienne" and "la passante" (the female passer by), and the presence of the Eiffel tower in fashion visuals. She gives attention to the continuum between the French journalistic discourse and that of cultural forms such as films, paintings and literature, thus revealing the persistence across texts and time of visions of Paris and shedding light on the production and reproduction of the Paris myth.

Art takes many forms. In this selection of Asian court attire, dating from the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), the phrase "you are what you wear" resonates. Vollmer journeys back to the thirteenth-century Chinese Empire, where ancestors of the ruling Manchu conquerors dressed fittingly. These exquisite costumes remind us that royalty once set fashion standards the way that celebrities do today, but that these garments also promoted distinct national and political messages that helped keep a ruling minority in power for nearly three centuries. Dressed to Rule is a guide to the exhibit, of the same name, that appeared at the University of Alberta in 2007.

Dress Sense explores the importance of the senses and emotions in the way people dress, and how they attach value and significance to clothing. Inspired by the work of Joanne B. Eicher, contributors offer different multi-disciplinary perspectives on this key and unexplored topic in dress and sensory anthropology. The essays present historical, contemporary and global views, from British imperial dress in India, to revolutionary Socialist dress. Issues of body and identity are brought to the fore in the sexual power of Ghanian women's waistbeads, the way cross-dressers feel about their clothing, and how the latest three-dimensional body-scanning technology affects people's perception of themselves and their bodies. For students and researchers of dress and anthropology, Dress Sense will be invaluable in understanding the cross-cultural, emotional and sensual experience of dress and clothing.

"Waiting for Macedonia "gives insight into one of the most moving moments in post-war European history: the hope for a new Europe in the years following the collapse of communism. In this ethnography, Thiessen explores the different ways in which identity has been negotiated in Macedonia since the disintegration of Yugoslavia. In contrast to more familiar approaches to the Balkans--which emphasize tradition, rural life, and women in the contexts of kinship and marriage--Thiessen here investigates the everyday habits of a group of young professional women in Skopje. Using research data spanning eight years (1988-96), she traces key aspects of their life, including family relationships, television and shopping habits, cafe life, and attitudes to work. At the same time, she also raises larger questions about Macedonian, Balkan, and Eastern European notions of identity, suggesting that western discourses about former socialist countries may in turn be influencing the way young urban Macedonians see themselves.

More than 400 of the author's own drawings provide an authentic record of over 1,300 years of changing fashions in women's hairstyles and headwear in England. Finely detailed images -- rendered from vintage sources -- depict everything from wimples and crespines worn in Anglo-Saxon times to early Victorian bonnets and pillboxes of the mid-20th century.

There is nothing uniform about wearing a uniform. This one article of clothing has arguably had a greater impact on the world than any other. From fascists to fashionistas, Uniforms Exposed looks at this most extraordinary of ordinary garments and its cultural meaning in our everyday lives. Tracing the troubling connections amongst religious orders, the military, schools and fetish clubs, Craik shows how uniforms alternately control bodies and enable subversion. What does it mean to wear one? Why do certain professions require them? Do they really tell wearers how to act and others how to respond? Answering these intriguing questions and many more, Craik shows how the uniform inspires fear and love, conformity and subversion, and why it has continued to fascinate across cultures and throughout history.

Recent interest in 'vintage' and second hand clothes by both fashion consumers and designers is only the latest manifestation of a long and complex cultural history of wearing and trading second hand clothes. With its origins in necessity, the passing of clothes between social and economic groups is now a global business, but with roots that are centuries old. To move from one social and cultural situation to another used clothes must be 'transformed' to become of potential value to a new social group. How, when and why this has happened is the subject of this book. Old Clothes, New Looks presents a three-part focus on the history, the trading culture, and the contemporary refashioning of second hand clothing. Historical perspectives include studies located in Renaissance Florence, early industrial England, colonial Australia, and mid twentieth-century Ireland. The global nature of the second hand trade in clothing is presented through original research from Zambia, India, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Japan. The reuse of garments as contemporary fashion statements is explored through studies that include neo-mod retro-sixties subculture in Germany, the impact of 'vintage' in the USA on consumers and designers, as well as consideration of its sartorial and cultural challenges, encapsulated by the work of designer XULY.Bet. This groundbreaking book will be essential reading for all those interested in fashion and dress, material culture, consumption and anthropology, as well as to dealers, collectors and wearers of second hand clothes.

This is the first book in English to deal comprehensively with German fashion from World War I through to the end of the Third Reich. It explores the failed attempt by the Nazi state to construct a female image that would mirror official gender policies, inculcate feelings of national pride, promote a German victory on the fashion runways of Europe and support a Nazi-controlled European fashion industry. Not only was fashion one of the countrys largest industries throughout the interwar period, but German women ranked among the most elegantly dressed in all of Europe. While exploding the cultural stereotype of the German woman as either a Brunhilde in uniform or a chubby farmers wife, the author reveals the often heated debates surrounding the issue of female image and clothing, as well as the ambiguous and contradictory relationship between official Nazi propaganda and the reality of womens daily lives during this crucial period in German history. Because Hitler never took a firm public stance on fashion, an investigation of fashion policy reveals ambivalent posturing, competing factions and conflicting laws in what was clearly not a monolithic National Socialist state. Drawing on previously neglected primary sources, Guenther unearths new material to detail the inner workings of a government-supported fashion institute and an organization established to help aryanize the German fashion world.How did the few with power maintain style and elegance? How did the majority experience the increased standardization of clothing characteristic of the Nazi years? How did women deal with the severe clothing restrictions brought about by Nazi policies and the exigencies of war? These questions and many others, including the role of anti-Semitism, aryanization and the hypocrisy of Nazi policies, are all thoroughly examined in this pathbreaking book.

Illustrated with photographs, drawings, and cartoons gathered from popular culture, this provocative book demonstrates that the veil, the garment known in Islamic cultures as the hijab, holds within its folds a semantic versatility that goes far beyond current cliches and homogenous representations. Whether seen as erotic or romantic, a symbol of oppression or a sign of piety, modesty, or purity, the veil carries thousands of years of religious, sexual, social, and political significance. Using examples from both the East and West-including Persian poetry, American erotica, Iranian and Indian films, and government-sanctioned posters-Faegheh Shirazi shows that the veil has become a ubiquitous symbol, utilized as a profitable marketing tool for diverse enterprises, from Penthouse magazine to Saudi advertising companies. She argues that perceptions of the veil change with the cultural context of its use as well as over time: in a Hindi movie the veil draws in the male gaze, in an Iranian movie it denies it; photographs of veiled women in Playboy aim to titillate a principally male audience, while cartoons of veiled women in the same magazine mock and ridicule Muslim society. Shirazi concludes that the practice of veiling, encompassing an amazingly rich array of meanings, has often become a screen upon which different people in different cultures project their dreams and nightmares.

Although it can be difficult to think of fashion in anything other than a contemporary context, as a concept it is hardly new. Costume historians trace the birth of fashion back to the thirteenth century and writings on fashion date back as early as the sixteenth century when Michel de Montaigne pondered its origins, thereby setting in motion a chain of inquiry that has continued to intrigue writers for centuries. This key text reprints classic fashion writings, all of which have had a profound if perhaps untrumpeted impact on our understanding and approach to modern day dress - from the psychology of clothes through to collective fashion trends. Why do we wear clothes? What do they say about our self-awareness and body image? How can we 'fashion' new identities through what we wear? Seminal fashion statements by Montaigne, William Hazlitt, Herbert Spencer, Thorstein B. Veblen, Adam Smith, Herbert Blumer, and Georg Simmel answer these questions and many more. Full of vital fashion treasures that have often been ignored, this book fills a major gap in the history of the discipline and will serve as an essential teaching text for years to come.

Fashion--the question of what to wear and how to wear it--is a centuries-old obsession. Beyond superficial concerns with personal appearance, the history of dress points to deep preoccupations surrounding the social order, national identity, and moral decency. Produced in conjunction with an exhibition at the David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art (running from October 23, 2001 through April 28, 2002), "A Well-Fashioned Image investigates clothing and the representation of clothing from these various perspectives. This richly illustrated catalogue, the fourth in a series sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, features an introduction by co-curators Elizabeth Rodini, the Smart Museum's Mellon Projects Curator, and Professor Elissa B. Weaver of the University of Chicago's Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, which is followed by essays addressing the topic from a variety of perspectives. Also included are a substantial bibliography on the topic of costume in art and an exhibition checklist.

Is there a peculiarly English 'look' and if so how does one define it?
From the 'traditional' dress of the Victorian rural working class through to the contemporary collections of Vivienne Westwood and a younger generation of London-based designers, notions of Englishness, either real or imagined, have always been at play in considerations of English fashion and clothing. This provocative book explores how far these fraught ideals can be applied to the dress of the past and present. English expressions of taste and creativity have had a profound influence on style over the last three centuries, and the pursuit and subversion of an English 'look' have shaped conceptions of fashionability from the pastoralism of the eighteenth-century through to the eras of Twiggy, Punk and beyond. But are these simply stereotypical characterizations that relate to an imagined 'Englishness', or is there some concrete basis for them? If the former, what has led to their development? If the latter, what definitions can be employed to unravel such complicated conceptions of national identity? What role has social decorum played in developing an 'English' style, and is this preoccupation with etiquette in fact unique to England ?
With chapters authored by leading scholars in the fields of costume history, social history and cultural studies, this is the first book to examine the ways in which fashion and dress might be considered in the context of national identities as they apply in England. Presenting an overview of how particular designers and consumer groups have striven to present or contest versions of Englishness through clothing from the 18th through to the 21st centuries, it will fascinate anyone interested in dress history, national and ethnic identity or English cultural history.