Bøger i Dress, Body, Culture serien

Provides an interpretative overview of the idiosyncratic writings of eight theorists whose work has profoundly influenced the conceptual and theoretical basis of our contemporary understanding of clothes and the fashion system. This book also provides an historical outline of Western conceptions of clothes and fashion.

What we wear is a vehicle for the expression of politics, gender and identity, placing clothing at the root of a complex set of messages. This book shows how semiotics can provide a convincing template for understanding dress in a range of contexts and is a useful reading for anyone interested in the meaning of what we wear.

This text presents a theory of what dress means in relation to the body. Identity relies on boundaries to individuate the self. Dress challenges boundaries: it frames the body and serves both to distinguish and connect self and "Other". It argues that clothing is both a boundary and not a boundary.

Transnational movements of people, cultural objects, images and identities have played a vital role in creating an informal global network for African fashion. This book traces the changing meanings, aesthetics and histories of the thriving informal African fashion network.

This accessible study of religious dress practices contains case studies on a wide range of religious groups, including: Catholics, Jews, Hindus, Druids, Shamans, and Mystics. Its unique sensory approach will appeal to scholars and students across many disciplines.

This is the first comprehensive account of Jewish clothing, both profane and sacred, from its origins through to the present day. Focusing on tensions over gender, ethnic identity and assimilation, each chapter discusses the meaning and symbolism of a specific era or type of Jewish dress, whether traditional or contemporary.

This is the first anthropological study of the contemporary Chinese fashion and textile industries from high-end designer clothing to mass manufacture.

Drawing examples from a range of African cultures, this book focuses on the art patronage systems that stimulate production, consumption, commodification and cultural meaning, and emphasizes the importance of cloth to aesthetic and cultural expression in African societies.

Provides a comprehensive account of modern Chinese fashion since 1978. This book offers an analysis of the development of the Chinese fashion industry as well as an analysis of the relationship between dress, gender, identity and consumption in contemporary China. It is suitable for students of fashion and textiles.

Examines how aesthetic products are defined, distributed and valued. This book focuses on the work of some of the market agents, particularly model agents or 'bookers' and fashion buyers, shaping the aesthetics inside their markets. It develops a theoretical framework for understanding the distinctive features of aesthetic marketplaces.

Moving from first hand interviews with dancers and others, this book broadens into an accessible examination of the popularity of "striptease culture," with sex-saturated media imagery, and stripper aerobics at your local gym. It aims to scrutinize the truth of a industry whose norms are increasingly at the center of contemporary society.

Changing trends in fashion have always reflected large-scale social and cultural changes. This title presents a multi-disciplinary approach to examining fashion change, bringing together theory from fashion studies, cultural studies, sociology, psychology and art history, amongst others. It is intended for the undergraduate student of fashion.

Quilting, once regarded as a traditional craft, has broken through the barriers of history, art and commerce to become a global phenomenon, international multi-billion dollar industry and means of gendered cultural production. This book explores how and why women quilt.

Discusses such areas as: constructing cloth and clothing in the Antebellum South; wearing Antebellum clothing; having footwear; embellishing the head; crowning the person; and clothing as the weft of a folk history.

Explores Goths' expressive practices of dress, fashion, style and the body, in relation to issues of identity and representation. This book shares accounts of the author's experiences exploring gender and sexuality and doing fieldwork in the Gothic subculture.

Competitive ballroom is much more than a style of dance. This book explores the intersection of dance cultures, dress and the body. It shows how dancing influences mind and body alike. It provides an ethnographic picture of how dancers and others live their lives both on and off the dance floor.

Deals comprehensively with German fashion from World War I through to the end of the Third Reich. This book explores the failed attempt by the Nazi state to construct a female image. It details the inner workings of a government-supported fashion institute and an organization established to help aryanize the German fashion world.

From fascists to fashionistas, this work looks at clothing and its cultural meaning in our everyday lives. Tracing the troubling connections amongst religious orders, the military, schools and fetish clubs, it shows how uniforms control bodies and enable subversion. It shows how the uniform inspires fear and love, conformity and subversion.

While highlighting how the gender identity of transsexuals relates to hormonal and surgical changes in the body as well as to changes in dress, this text investigates the pressures and motivations to conform to expected gender roles, and the ways in which these are affected.

From dressing up to dressing down, this book exposes the complex ways that fashions and costumes render the body presentable in a range of social situations. It investigates the varied ways in which western and non-western clothes operate to give the body meaning. It is useful for those interested in style, costume, the body, gender or history.

From Islam to Confucianism to Voodoo, dress plays a pivotal role in religious expression. This book investigates how dress symbolically evidences both religious and social systems across a range of cultures, from Africa and South America to Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Caribbean.

Presents a three-part focus on the history, the trading culture, and the contemporary refashioning of second hand clothing. This book is useful for those interested in fashion and dress, material culture, consumption and anthropology, as well as to dealers, collectors and wearers of second hand clothes.