Description
Book SynopsisThe dynamism and creativity of African fashion
Trade Review[A]s a scholarly text Contemporary African Fashion provides an important interdisciplinary analysis of a subject relevant to art historians, fashion historians, anthropologists, and historians alike. It would fit well within graduate-level reading lists for courses in African art history and histories of fashion.
* caa.reviews *
Contemporary African Fashion is beautifully designed and graced with compelling photos. . . . Together, the essays reinforce the idea of ever-evolving tradition and cultural interaction, and the great importance of personal appearance on the African continent. While the composite picture that emerges is informative, it is the richness of the specific stories that make this anthology compelling. April 27, 2011
* Journal of Folklore Research *
[This is] a richly documented, well-argued, thought-provoking and beautifully illustrated study of contemporary African fashion.
* de Arte *
The book is beautifully designed and features high-quality photographs illustrating the various topics addressed. The chapters are kept to a comfortable length, which makes the volume also a suitable tool for teaching.
* African Arts *
Table of ContentsForeword by Joanne B. Eicher
Acknowledgments
Introduction / Suzanne Gott and Kristyne Loughran
Part 1. Fashion within the African Continent
1. The Ghanaian Kaba: Fashion That Sustains Culture / Suzanne Gott
2. The Visual City: Tailors, Creativity, and Urban Life in Dakar, Senegal / Joanna Grabski
3. Secondhand Clothing and Fashion in Africa / Karen Tranberg Hansen
4. Fashion, Not Weather: A Rural Primer of Style / Elisabeth L. Cameron
5. Contemporary Wedding Fashions in Lagos, Nigeria / Elisha P. Renne
Part 2. African Fashion Designers
6. African Fashion: Design, Identity, and History / Victoria L. Rovine
7. Using the Past to Sculpt the Costume of the Future: An Interview with Kandioura Coulibaly / Janet Goldner
8. Intersecting Creativities: Oumou Sy's Costumes in the Dakar Landscape / Hudita Nura Mustafa
9. From Cemetery to Runway: Dress and Identity in Highland Madagascar / Rebecca L. Green
Part 3. African Fashion in the Diaspora
10. La Sape Exposed! High Fashion among Lower-Class Congolese Youth: From Colonial Modernity to Global Cosmopolitanism / Didier Gondola
11. Have Cloth—Will Travel / Kristyne Loughran
12. Dressing Somali (Some Assembly Required) / Heather Marie Akou
13. Translating African Textiles into U.S. Fashion Design: Brenda Winstead and Damali Afrikan Wear / Leslie W. Rabine
Further Readings
List of Contributing Authors
Index
