Latin American Fashion Reader

From the tango-inspired dress of Argentina and guerilla 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. This book is a long overdue assessment of Latin Americas influence on 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 cactus fiber sandals. It also considers its global impact, visible in chains and mass-produced fashions, and the international worship of fashion icons such as Frida Kahlo and Eva Per?n

About The Author:

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

Table Of Contents:

Introduction11Visualizing difference : the rhetoric of clothing in colonial Spanish America172Fashioning independence : gender, dress and social space in postcolonial Argentina313The travelers eye : Chinas Poblanas and European-inspired costume in postcolonial Mexico444Far eastern influences in Latin American fashions665Ixcacles : maguey-fiber sandals in Modern Mexico796″Why do gringos like black?” Mourning, tourism, and changing fashions in Peru937Dressed to kill : the embroidered fashion industry of the Sakaka of Highland Bolivia1148Representations of tradition in Latin American boundary textile art1429Ponchos of the river plate : Nostalgia for Eden16310Mappin stores : adding and English touch to the Sao Paulo fashion scene17611As she walks to the sea : a semiology of Rio de Janeiro18812″Every girl had a fan which she kept always in motion” : Puerto Rican womens dress at a time of social and cultural transition19813Guayaberismo and the essence of cool21314Transvestite pedagogy : Jacqueline and Cuban culture23215Frida and Evita : Latin American icons for export24716Fashioning United States Salvadoranness : unveiling the faces of Christy Turlington and Rosa Lopez26317Scattered bodies, unfashionable flesh283

Special Features:

Latin American Fashion Reader