Costume Society of America – serie

Form-fitting dresses, silk veils, earrings, furs, high-heeled shoes, make up, and dyed, flowing hair. It is difficult for a contemporary person to reconcile these elegant clothes and accessories with the image of cloistered nuns. For many of the some thousand nuns in early modern Venice, however, these fashions were the norm.Often locked in convents without any religious calling simply to save their parents the expense of their dowry these involuntary nuns relied on the symbolic meaning of secular clothes, fabrics, and colors to rebel against the rules and prescriptions of conventual life and to define roles and social status inside monastic society.Calling upon mountains of archival documents, most of which have never been seen in print, Forbidden Fashions is the first book to focus specifically upon the dress of nuns in Venetian convents and offers new perspective on the intersection of dress and the city s social and economic history.

The intersection of women’s fashion and big business in the US has always been a compelling study across social strata. The ready-to-wear apparel industry thrives on creating a presumably original design that is then interpreted into copies. Called design piracy by some and the knock-off process by most in the industry, copying fashion designs is a firmly embedded business strategy that predates even the advent of women’s ready-to-wear in the late nineteenth century. Historically, some industry organizations and individual designers accepted and supported copying as crucial to the transmission of fashion; others strove to prevent the practice, arguing harms ranging from lost profits to the abuse of labor. Threaded through the complicated and fascinating history of US ready-towear fashion are more than eighty attempts to legislate for design protection, and countless efforts to stymie piracy through patents, trademarking, or industry self-regulation. The authors analyze legal and apparel industry documents; governmental reports; and their own primary research conducted in museums, archives, and special collections to shed light on arguments both for and against design piracy. A main focus is the Fashion Originators Guild of America (FOGA), one of the most successful industry organizations to attempt design protection. Knock It Off puts into perspective the conflicting interests that have always set fashion design apart from other creative works and continue to make the industry an endlessly perplexing and risky business.

A behind-the-scenes look at the only fashion show held at the White House and the intersections of fashion and politicsOn February 29, 1968, the White House hosted its first—and only—fashion show. At the time, the patriotic event was lauded by the press, and many predicted it would become an annual occasion, especially since fashion had grown to become the fourth largest industry in the United States, employing 1.4 million Americans, more than 80 percent of them women. But the social and political turmoil of that particular year—from the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement, and the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Senator Robert F. Kennedy—cast a shadow over the festivities. Using eyewitness accounts as well as carefully preserved records, artifacts, and previously unpublished images, Red, White, and Blue on the Runway re-creates the once-in-a-lifetime event and explores the reasons why the first White House fashion show was destined to be the last. The politics of fashion touched everyone involved in this landmark occasion in American fashion history, from hostess Lady Bird Johnson and the Johnson daughters to the designers, including Bill Blass, Geoffrey Beene, Mollie Parnis, and Oscar de la Renta, as well as the models and guests. Those guests included the wives of governors and of President Johnson's Cabinet, in addition to dozens of fashion designers and prominent journalists who reported on the event. In our own turbulent political climate, Red, White, and Blue on the Runway takes us back to an equally tense time, providing a unique historical perspective on themes of fashion, politics, protest, and image-making that are immediately relevant today.

A critical and nuanced look at societal perceptions of Black hair, past and present Black Hair in a White World is an in-depth study of the cultural history, perceptions, and increasing acceptance of Black hair in the broader American society. The essays in this anthology discuss representations and responses to Black hair, including analysis of research findings about marketing messages and depictions of Black hair in popular culture, discussions of workplace discrimination, and stories about the origins of the natural hair movement and how many Black people have learned to embrace and celebrate their natural hair.Beginning with a close analysis of historical and contemporary books, media, and ads, Black Hair in a White World illustrates both positive and negative responses to Black hair. In the second section, Ellington features contributions from diverse scholars and activists who argue that natural Black hair has often explicitly been––and still is––criticized by non-Blacks and Blacks who believe that the natural texture of Black hair is a problem that must be solved and believe that natural Black hair is unacceptable, unprofessional, and unattractive. Authors of the volume's final essays conclude by pushing against this narrative and describing the emergence of the natural hair movement, which has pushed for increased mainstream acceptance of Black hair.Black Hair in a White World is a groundbreaking, serious examination of perceptions of Black hair and makes an important contribution to ongoing discussions about gender, sociology, and self-expression.