Overview

Latin American fashion's recent gain in popularity can be seen most obviously in mass-market ranges throughout the industrialized West. From the tango-inspired dress of Argentina and guerrilla chic in downtown Buenos Aires to swimwear on Copacabana Beach and the rainbow that adorns Mayan women, Latin America has long been a source of inspiration for designers throughout the world. Until now, however, the pivotal role played by dress in this region has surprisingly been overlooked. This book is a long overdue assessment of Latin America's influence on global fashion. The authors examine the significance of textiles and dress to Latin American culture and the reasons behind it from fashion history to popular culture and the (re)making of traditional garments, such as the poncho, the guayabera and maguey-fiber sandals. This book also considers fashion icons such as Frida Kahlo and Eva Peron, women who have been worshipped and transformed into marketable symbols of exoticism and passion, as well as the key role that dress played in their rise to celebrity on the international stage. Providing a first and definitive overview of Latin American fashion, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in Latin American cultural studies or fashion history. Winner of the 2006 Arthur P. Whitaker Prize, awarded by the Middle Atlantic Council of Latin American Studies

Full Product Details

Author:   Dr Regina Root
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Berg Publishers
Volume:   v. 36
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 2.40cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.698kg
ISBN:  

9781859738887

ISBN 10:   1859738885
Pages:   320
Publication Date:   01 March 2005
Audience:   General/trade ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Introduction - Regina A.Root, College of William and Mary PART 1: UNRAVELING HISTORY 'Visualizing Difference: The Rhetoric of Clothing in Colonial Spanish America - Mariselle Melendez, University of Illinois Fashioning Independence: Gender, Dress and Social Space in Postcolonial Argentina - Regina A. Root, College of William and Mary The Traveler's Eye: Chinas Poblanas and European-Inspired Costume in Postcolonial Mexico - Kimberly Randall Far Eastern Influences in Latin American Fashions - Araceli Tinajero, City University of New York PART 2: ALTERED TRADITIONS Ixcacles: Maguey Fiber Sandals in Modern Mexico - Pamela Scheinman, Montclair State University, New Jersey Why do Gringos Like Black? Mourning, Tourism, and Changing Fashions in Peru - Blenda Femenias, University of Pittsburgh Dressed to Kill: The Embroidered Fashion Industry of the Sakaka of Highland Bolivia - Elayne Zorn, University of Central Florida Representations of Tradition in Latin American Boundary Textile Art - Elyse Demaray, Melody Keim-Shenk, YWCA of Lancaster, and Mary A. Littrell, Iowa State University PART 3: FASHION AND THE CULTURAL IMAGINARY Ponchos of the River Plate: Nostalgia for Eden - Ruth Corcuera, director of CIAFIC Mappin Stores: Adding an English Touch to the Sao Paulo Fashion Scene - Rita Andrade As She Walks to the Sea: A Semiology of Rio de Janeiro - Nizia Villaca, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro Every Girl Had a Fan which she kept Always in Motion : Puerto Rican Women's Dress at a Time of Social and Cultural Transition' - Dilia Lopez Gydosh, Ohio State University, and Marsha A. Dickson, Kansas State University PART 4: MEDITATION AND CONSUMPTION Guayaberismo and the Essence of Cool - Marilyn Miller, Tulane University, New Orleans Transvestite Pedagogy: Jacqueline and Cuban Culture - James Pancrazio, Illinois State University Frida and Evita: Latin American Icons for Export - Maria Claudia Andre, Hope College Fashioning United States Salvadoranness: Unveiling the Faces of Chrsity Turlington and Rosa Lopez - Claudia M. Milian Arias, Brown University PART 5: IN SEARCH OF FASHION Scattered Bodies, Unfashionable Flesh - Fabricio Forastelli, Emory University

Reviews

Shortlisted for the Millia Davenport Award 2006, Costume Society of America Nizia Villaa's essay on Rio's beachwear is a sheer delight. Also outstanding are the essays by Regina Root on exuberant nineteenth-century Argentine hairstyles, Kimberly Randall on Mexican China Poblana embroidered blouses and skirts, and Marilyn Miller on Guayaberismo and the essence of cool...there is much insight and pleasure to be gained from this novel prism through which to visualize Latin American history. Richard Feinberg for Foreign Affairs Magazine, November-December 2005 Feature article in Elle Argentina, June 2005 A necessary volume in the book collection of any serious student of Hispanic culture, and and 'must order' by any institution of higher education. Diana Risk, Virginia Wesleyan College, in The Journal of American Culture This book offers a remarkable insight into the power of fabric and adornment. Graduate Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies There is much insight and pleasure to be gained from this novel prism through which to visualize Latin American history. Foreign Affairs (Vol. 84, No 6)

Author Information

Regina Root is Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg.

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