Books like Etoffe du Diable by Michel Pastoureau

290 p. : 25 cm

For over two centuries, in the North as well as the South, both within their own community and in the public arena, African Americans have presented their bodies in culturally distinctive ways. Shane White and Graham White consider the deeper significance of the ways in which African Americans have dressed, walked, danced, arranged their hair, and communicated in silent gestures. They ask what elaborate hair styles, bright colors, bandanas, long watch chains, and zoot suits, for example, have really meant, and discuss style itself as an expression of deep-seated cultural imperatives. Their wide-ranging exploration of black style from its African origins to the 1940s reveals a culture that differed from that of the dominant racial group in ways that were often subtle and elusive. A wealth of black-and-white illustrations show the range of African American experience in America, emanating from all parts of the country, from cities and farms, from slave plantations, and Chicago beauty contests. White and White argue that the politics of black style is, in fact, the politics of metaphor, always ambiguous because it is always indirect. To tease out these ambiguities, they examine extensive sources, including advertisements for runaway slaves, interviews recorded with surviving ex-slaves in the 1930s, autobiographies, travelers' accounts, photographs, paintings, prints, newspapers, and images drawn from popular culture, such as the stereotypes of Jim Crow and Zip Coon.

An in‑depth exploration of the history of clothing and dress, tracing the evolution of costume and fashion through different eras and cultures.

Aileen Ribeiro traces English and French fashion from 1750 to 1820 through portraiture, history painting, sculpture, drawings, caricatures and fashion plates, showing how dress mirrored social, political and cultural shifts in both countries.

An authoritative study of medieval clothing, examining its historical development, artistic representations, and cultural significance within medieval civilization.

A historical exploration of fashion photography, design, and installations by experimental artists of the 1990s, through the lens of interviews and Marxist analysis.

Fetish explores how changing attitudes toward sex and gender have shaped fashion, drawing on history, psychology, and interviews to examine the rise of fetish garments and their role in identity and power.