Latin American Fashion Reader

Regina Root is Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies in the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg.

• Introduction -- Regina A.Root, College of William and Mary PART 1: UNRAVELING HISTORY * 'Visualizing Difference: The Rhetoric of Clothing in Colonial Spanish America' -- Mariselle Melndez, University of Illinois * Fashioning Independence: Gender, Dress and Social Space in Postcolonial Argentina -- Regina A. Root, College of William and Mary * The Traveler's Eye: Chinas Poblanas and European-Inspired Costume in Postcolonial Mexico -- Kimberly Randall * Far Eastern Influences in Latin American Fashions -- Araceli Tinajero, City University of New York PART 2: ALTERED TRADITIONS * Ixcacles: Maguey Fiber Sandals in Modern Mexico -- Pamela Scheinman, Montclair State University, New Jersey * 'Why do Gringos Like Black?' Mourning, Tourism, and Changing Fashions in Peru -- Blenda Femenas, University of Pittsburgh * Dressed to Kill: The Embroidered Fashion Industry of the Sakaka of Highland Bolivia -- Elayne Zorn, University of Central Florida * Representations of Tradition in Latin American Boundary Textile Art -- Elyse Demaray, Melody Keim-Shenk, YWCA of Lancaster, and Mary A. Littrell, Iowa State University * PART 3: FASHION AND THE CULTURAL IMAGINARY * Ponchos of the River Plate: Nostalgia for Eden -- Ruth Corcuera, director of CIAFIC * Mappin Stores: Adding an English Touch to the Sao Paulo Fashion Scene -- Rita Andrade * As She Walks to the Sea: A Semiology of Rio de Janeiro -- Nizia Villaa, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro * '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 Lpez Gydosh, Ohio State University, and Marsha Dickson, Kansas State University * PART 4: MEDITATION AND CONSUMPTION * Guayaberismo and the Essence of Cool -- Marilyn Miller, Tulane University, New Orleans * Transvestite Pedagogy: Jacqueline and Cuban Culture -- James Pancrazio, Illinois State University * Frida and Evita: Latin American Icons for Export--Mara Claudia Andr, Hope College * Fashioning United States Salvadoranness: Unveiling the Faces of Chrsity Turlington and Rosa Lpez -- Claudia M. Milian Arias, Brown University * PART 5: IN SEARCH OF FASHION Scattered Bodies, Unfashionable Flesh -- Fabricio Forastelli, Emory University

Shortlisted for the Millia Davenport Award 2006, Costume Society of America'Nizia Villaa's essay on Rio's beachwear is a sheer delight. Also outstanding are the essays by Regina Root on exuberant nineteenth-century Argentine hairstyles, Kimberly Randall on Mexican China Poblana embroidered blouses and skirts, and Marilyn Miller on 'Guayaberismo and the essence of cool...there is much insight and pleasure to be gained from this novel prism through which to visualize Latin American history.'Richard Feinberg for Foreign Affairs Magazine, November-December 2005Feature article in Elle Argentina, June 2005'A necessary volume in the book collection of any serious student of Hispanic culture, and and 'must order' by any institution of higher education.'Diana Risk, Virginia Wesleyan College, in The Journal of American Culture'This book offers a remarkable insight into the power of fabric and adornment.'Graduate Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies'There is much insight and pl