Fashion, Agency, and Empowerment

Lynch and Medvedev have given their readers a 'fresh look' into the fashion of the 21st century. Their book reflects the zeitgeist and the importance of diversity, taking readers on journeys of race, ethnicity, gender, class and most importantly style. The text relates the significance of today's cultural shifts and how we are moving into a new era reflecting the influence of global fashion. -- Joseph H. Hancock II, Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA The overarching framework provided by Lynch and Medvedev in this volume is effective in addressing critical topics such as differences in gender socialization, fashion as challenge and empowerment, dress and power structures, and objectification and self-objectification in personal and group narratives ... [A] must-read for those who wish to understand the nuances of the relationship of fashionable dress to sex and power structures. -- Marilyn DeLong, College of Design, University of Minnesota, USA

Annette Lynch is the Director of the School of Applied Human Sciences and a professor of Textiles and Apparel at the University of Northern Iowa, USA. Katalin Medvedev is a professor at the University of Georgia, USA.

List of Illustrations Notes on Contributors Introduction Fashion, Agency and Empowerment Annette Lynch and Katalin Medvedev Fashion as Challenge and Empowerment Chapter 1 The Beauty Divide: Black Millennial Women Seek Agency with Makeup Art Cosmetics (MAC) Jaleesa Reed and Katalin Medvedev Chapter 2 Kangol Kool: Stylized Hats and the Performance of Black Dandyism Derrick Williams Chapter 3 Challenging the Gender Binary in Bond Films: Bond Girls, Female Villains, and James Laureen Gibson Chapter 4 Menswear in the Millennium: Bending the Gender Binary Parker Bennett Dialogues between Dress and Structures of Power Chapter 5 High Flying Fashions: Ghana Airways' Female Flight Attendants as Exemplars of the Nation Christopher Richards Chapter 6 First Ladies of the Raj: Status and Empowerment in British India Donald Clay Johnson Chapter 7 The Lady was a Mshoza: Female Agency and Empowerment in South African Pantsula Dance and Culture Daniela Goeller Chapter 8 Penetrating Knits: Feminists Knit 'Cunty First' and 'The Pussyhat' Rebecca E. Schuiling and Theresa Winge Chapter 9 The Choli and the Empowerment of Indian Women Vandana Bhandari Narratives of Objectification and Self-Objectification Chapter 10 The Prowess of a Virgin Goddess and a Seductress: Analyzing the Ideals of Female Sexuality of Princess Diana and Kate Middleton Caroline McCauley Chapter 11 Dress and Sex Work - Attracting Customers through Virtual Environments Tasoulla Hadiyanni and Kim K. Johnson Chapter 12 Stripping of Power: Dress and Undress of Afro-Brazilian Women in the Scientific Work of Louis and Elizabeth Agassiz Kelly Mohs Gage Chapter 13 Turning Self to Object: Costume, Identity, and Gender Roles in Alice Austen's Photographic Self-Portraits Keren Ben-Horin Bibliography Index