San Antonio College Library

"The kimono is an iconic garment with a history as rich and colourful as the textiles from which it is crafted. Deeply associated with Japanese culture both past and present, it has often been thought of as a highly gendered, rigidly traditional and unchanging national costume. This book challenges that perception, revealing the nuanced meanings and messages behind the kimono from the point of view of its wearers and producers, many of whom - both...

The Hindi film industry, among the most prolific in the world, has delighted audiences for decades with its colourful, exquisite and sometimes startling costumes. But are costumes more than just a source of pleasure? This book, the first in-depth exploration of Hindi film costume, contends that they are a unique source of knowledge about issues ranging from Indian taste and fashion to questions of identity, gender and work. Anthropological and film...

"Drawing on experiences from villagers in Bengal to scientists in Bangalore, this book explores the beauty, adaptability and personality of India's most iconic garment. Banerjee and Miller show why the sari has survived and indeed flourished as everyday dress when most of the world has adopted western clothing. Their book presents both an intimate portrait of the lives of women in India today and an alternative way for us all to think about our relationship...

In this exhaustive and entertaining study, Alison Lurie shows what the clothes we choose to wear say about us. Approaching clothing from four perspectives -- historical, social logical, psychological, anthropological -- she demonstrates how color, fabric and cut are not mere whims of designers or manufacturers but constitute a vocabulary and grammar as precise and full of subconscious intent as any verbal language: how our clothes announce our sex,...

" ... Presents, in six chapters, a description of all aspects of dress in British colonial America, including the social and historical background of British America, and covering men's, women's, and children's garments. The book shows how dress reflected and evolved with life in British colonial America as primitive settlements gave way to the growth of towns, cities, and manufacturing of the pre-Industrial Revolution"--Page 4 of cover.

Everywhere around the world, people make daily decisions about what to wear or how to dress. The Visible Self, 4th Edition, presents a systematic approach to analysing daily rituals that we all share-not simply the act of putting on clothing, but also the method of cleansing the body and adorning it. Using Western and non-Western examples, the authors take a three-pronged approach to understanding dress across cultures, uncovering its relationship...

"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 among religious orders, the military, schools and fetish clubs, Jennifer Craik shows how uniforms alternately control bodies...

Somewhere along the line clothing met fashion, and neither has been the same since. In this program, historian Valerie Steele, of the Fashion Institute of Technology, and other experts interpret the history of humankind, from the ancients to the moderns, through the intriguing context of costume. Topics include the origins of clothing; symbolism associated with clothing, such as gender and status; sexist aspects of fashion, from corsets to miniskirts;...

"Paintings of upper-class men and women tell an important part of the history of costumes, but surviving garments reveal even more. Every crease, stitch, and stain in a piece of clothing supplies valuable information about its wearer and its era. This stunning book features eighteenth - and early-nineteenth-century garments from the premiere collection of Colonial Williamsburg. Illustrated with more than 300 color photographs, including many details...