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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>
List 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 Meléndez, 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 Femenías, 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 São Paulo Fashion Scene - Rita Andrade
As She Walks to the Sea: A Semiology of Rio de Janeiro - Nizia Villaça, 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 López 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 - María Claudia André, Hope College
Fashioning United States Salvadoranness: Unveiling the Faces of Chrsity Turlington and Rosa López - Claudia M. Milian Arias, Brown University
PART 5: IN SEARCH OF FASHION
Scattered Bodies, Unfashionable Flesh - Fabricio Forastelli, Emory University
About the author
Regina A. Root is Full Professor of Hispanic Studies at William & Mary, USA. An expert in participatory design and cultural production, she has authored or co-edited The Latin American Fashion Reader (Bloomsbury, 2005) Couture and Consensus (2010), and The Handbook of Fashion Studies (Bloomsbury, 2013), among others. She is editor of the Bloomsbury Fashion In Action book series.
