Wedding Dress Across Cultures

by Foster, Helen Bradley; Johnson, Donald Clay

• ISBN13: 9781859737422
• ISBN10: 1859737420
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-04-24
• Publisher: Berg Pub Ltd

Summary

Although the Victorian white wedding dominates western bridal dress and large portions of former colonial empires, marriage rituals vary significantly throughout the world. The Japanese, for instance, combine both traditional ceremonies with receptions utilizing western approaches to dress. In the Andes the bride will personally create a multi-layered dress to showcase her weaving skills. Berber brides in Morocco wear binding clothing that covers their faces, a notable contrast to Canadian prairie-province brides whose stylized gowns individualize and enhance body shape. This engaging book examines the evolution and ritual functions of wedding attire within the context of particular cultures. It raises questions as to the relationship between contemporary wedding attire and traditional values. It discusses the changes international migrations have had upon the wedding dress of several ethnic groups. It provides insights into numerous societal relationships to weddings, such as the ban on bridal-produced embroidery in dowries in India, the challenges individual values have to larger societal ones in themed weddings, and the relationship between the return to pre-western attire and identity politics. Exploring these issues, the authors provide unusual insights into the centrality of dress in shaping individual identity as well as its importance in reflecting cultural values and ideals.

Author Biography

Edited by Helen Bradley Foster, Lecturer, University of Minnesota and Donald Clay Johnson, Curator, Ames Library of South Asia, University of Minnesota.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	vii
Contributors	ix
Introduction	1	(4)
Helen Bradley Foster and Donald Clay Johnson
1 Something Plain and Simple? Unpacking Custom-made Wedding Dresses from Western Canada (1950-1995)	5	(18)
Kathryn Church
2 Satin Dresses and Caribou Kamiks: Negotiation of Tradition in Northern Alaskan Iñupiaq Weddings	23	(16)
Cyd Martin
3 Packaged in Japan: Elite Weddings in Osaka	39	(14)
Masami Suga
4 Korean Wedding Dress from the Chosun Dynasty (1392-1910) to the Present	53	(14)
Na Young Hong
5 Marriage and Dowry Customs of the Rabari of Kutch: Evolving Traditions	67	(18)
Eiluned Edwards
6 Pragmatism and Enigmas: the Panetar and Gharcholu Saris in Gujarati Weddings	85	(8)
Donald Clay Johnson
7 Swazi Bridal Attire: Culture, Traditions and Customs	93	(12)
Lombusa S. Khoza and Laura Kidd
8 Gender, Identity and Moroccan Weddings: The Adornment of the Ait Khabbash Berber Bride and Groom	105	(18)
Cynthia Becker
9 An Athenian Wedding, Year 2000	123	(18)
Helen Bradley Foster
10 An Historic Perspective of English and Soviet Bridalwear between 1917 and 1960	141	(16)
Janice Mee and Irina Safronova
11 He Gave her Sandals and She Gave Him a Tunic: Cloth and Weddings in the Andes	157	(16)
Lynn A. Meisch
12 Slavic Wedding Customs on Two Continents	173	(18)
Patricia Williams
13 Always Remembering the Motherland: Tai Dam Wedding Textiles and Dress	191	(16)
Elyse Demaray and Melody Keim-Shenk
14 The American Groom wore a Celtic Kilt: Theme Weddings as Carnivalesque Events	207	(12)
Theresa M. Winge and Joanne B. Eicher
Index	219