Latin American Fashion Reader

by Root, Regina A.

• ISBN13: 9781859738931
• ISBN10: 1859738931
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-06-04
• Publisher: Berg Pub Ltd

Summary

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

Author Biography

Regina A. Root is Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies, College of William and Mary.

Table of Contents

List of Figures	ix
Notes on Contributors	xi
Acknowledgments	xv
Introduction
Regina A. Root	1	(16)
Part 1: Unraveling History
1 Visualizing Difference: The Rhetoric of Clothing in Colonial Spanish America
Mariselle Meléndez	17	(14)
2 Fashioning Independence: Gender, Dress and Social Space in Postcolonial Argentina
Regina A. Root	31	(13)
3 The Traveler's Eye: Chinas Poblanas and European-Inspired Costume in Postcolonial Mexico
Kimberly Randall	44	(22)
4 Far Eastern Influences in Latin American Fashions
Araceli Tinajero	66	(13)
Part 2: Altered Traditions
5 Ixcacles: Maguey-fiber Sandals in Modern Mexico
Pamela Scheinman	79	(14)
6 "Why do Gringos Like Black?" Mourning, Tourism, and Changing Fashions in Peru
Blenda Femenias	93	(21)
7 Dressed to Kill: The Embroidered Fashion Industry of the Sakaka of Highland Bolivia
Elayne Zorn	114	(28)
8 Representations of Tradition in Latin American Boundary Textile Art
Elyse Demaray, Melody Keim-Shenk, and Mary A. Littrell	142	(21)
Part 3: Fashion and the Cultural Imaginary
9 Ponchos of the River Plate: Nostalgia for Eden
Ruth Corcuera	163	(13)
10 Mappin Stores: Adding an English Touch to the São Paulo Fashion Scene
Rita Andrade	176	(12)
11 As She Walks to the Sea: A Semiology of Rio de Janeiro
Nizia Villaça	188	(10)
12 "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 and Marsha A. Dickson	198	(15)
Part 4: Mediation and Consumption
13 Guayaberismo and the Essence of Cool
Marilyn Miller	213	(19)
14 Transvestite Pedagogy: Jacqueline and Cuban Culture
James Pancrazio	232	(15)
15 Frida and Evita: Latin American Icons for Export
Maria Claudia André	247	(16)
16 Fashioning United States Salvadoranness: Unveiling the Faces of Christy Turlington and Rosa López
Claudia M. Milian Arias	263	(20)
Part 5: In Search of Fashion
17 Scattered Bodies, Unfashionable Flesh
Fabricio Forastelli	283	(7)
Notes	290	(20)
Bibliography	310	(27)
Index	337