Linda Welters

This absorbing and disciplinary book examines dress in a broad range of folk cultures from Turkey, Greece, and Slovakia to Norway, Latvia and Lithuania and others. The authors reveal the connection between folk dress and ancient myths, cults and ritual, as well as the communicative aspects of folk dress. It examines how an individual dressed in a certain way is placed within a community and also how a community is defined, whether it be of women, the village, the larger geographic area, or the nation. The intriguing connections between dress and the supernatural beliefs of agrarian communities, as well as the reinvention of such beliefs of agrarian communities as a part of nationalism is discussed. This book represents a significant contribution to the growing body of literature on the cultural meanings of dress, as well as to material culture, anthropology, folklore, art history, ethnohistory, and linguistics.

Beliefs about Protection and Fertility

Folk Dress in Europe and Anatolia

Patricia Cunningham

Americans began the twentieth century standing in Europe's sartorial shadow, yet ended by outfitting the world in blue jeans, T-shirts and sneakers. How did this come about? What changes in American culture were reflected in fashion? What role did popular culture play?This important overview of American fashion in the twentieth century considers how Americans went from imitating British and French fashion to developing their own sense of style. It examines such influences on dress as class, jazz and hip hop, war, the space race, movies, television and sports. Further, the book shows how gender, psychology, advertising, public policy, shifting family values, the American design movement and expertise in mass production profoundly influenced an American style that has been exported across the globe. From New York City's Bohemians to Hollywood's stars, Twentieth-Century American Fashion reveals the continuing importance of clothing to American identity and individual experience.

Twentieth-Century American Fashion

Abby Lillethun

"Brings together 75+ essential writings on fashion history, business and culture with contextualizing editorial introductions and annotated further reading"--

The Fashion Reader

Margaret T. Ordoñez

Additional essays connect Rhode Island quilts to the state's historic, cultural, and social heritage, exploring the stylistic aspects of quilts made by various ethnic groups and the power of quilts to connect generations. Part II highlights thirty quilts, dating from the mid-eighteenth century through 1935. These vignettes explore such topics as shipwrecks that brought calicoes to Block Island and a quilt made by a suspected female vampire."--BOOK JACKET.

Quilts in Rhode Island

Down by the Old Mill Stream

Explores the under-researched fashion histories of non-western cultures in one complete volume to offer a global understanding of dress and culture.

A Global View

Fashion History

Farah Ahamed

Blake Jessop

Susan Carey

P. J. Schaefer

Gerri Leen

Lindsay Bamfield

Madeleine McDonald

Gabriella Brand

Cheney Luttich

Larissa Hikel

E. I. Webster

Dress You Up features stories about the ways fashion can impact our lives.

A Capsule Collection of Fashionable Fiction for the Stylish Reader

Dress You Up

Fashion History: A Global View proposes a new perspective on fashion history. Arguing that fashion has occurred in cultures beyond the West throughout history, this groundbreaking book explores the geographic places and historical spaces that have been largely neglected by contemporary fashion studies, bringing them together for the first time. Reversing the dominant narrative that privileges Western Europe in the history of dress, Welters and Lillethun adopt a cross-cultural approach to explore a vast array of cultures around the globe. They explore key issues affecting fashion systems, ranging from innovation, production and consumption to identity formation and the effects of colonization. Case studies include the cross-cultural trade of silk textiles in Central Asia, the indigenous dress of the Americas and of Hawai'i, the cosmetics of the Tang Dynasty in China, and stylistic innovation in sub-Saharan Africa. Examining the new lessons that can be deciphered from archaeological findings and theoretical advancements, the book shows that fashion history should be understood as a global phenomenon, originating well before and beyond the fourteenth century European court, which is continually, and erroneously, cited as fashion's birthplace. Providing a fresh framework for fashion history scholarship, Fashion History: A Global View will inspire inclusive dress narratives for students and scholars of fashion, anthropology, and cultural studies.

Linda Welters

Books

Your next favorite book is out there