Description
Book SynopsisAlthough the Victorian white wedding dominates western bridal dress and large portions of former colonial empires, marriage rituals vary significantly throughout the world. The Japanese, for instance, combine both traditional ceremonies with receptions utilizing western approaches to dress. In the Andes the bride will personally create a multi-layered dress to showcase her weaving skills. Berber brides in Morocco wear binding clothing that covers their faces, a notable contrast to Canadian prairie-province brides whose stylized gowns individualize and enhance body shape. This engaging book examines the evolution and ritual functions of wedding attire within the context of particular cultures. It raises questions as to the relationship between contemporary wedding attire and traditional values. It discusses the changes international migrations have had upon the wedding dress of several ethnic groups. It provides insights into numerous societal relationships to weddings, such as the ban on bridal-produced embroidery in dowries in India, the challenges individual values have to larger societal ones in themed weddings, and the relationship between the return to pre-western attire and identity politics. Exploring these issues, the authors provide unusual insights into the centrality of dress in shaping individual identity as well as its importance in reflecting cultural values and ideals.
Trade ReviewThe essays in Wedding Dress Across Cultures eloquently support the premise that costume for weddings is the most profound and exquisite way that a society distinguishes itself in the language of dress. The Journal of American Culture A tremendous amount of research has gone into this book, and every page is crammed with interesting and significant facts. It has absolutely everything a student or researcher needs to know about weddings. Elizabeth Emanuel
Table of Contents1. Something plain and simple? Unpacking custom-made wedding dresses from western Canada, 1950-1955. Kathryn Church (Independent Scholar, Toronto, Canada) 2. Satin dresses and caribou kamiks: negotiation of tradition in northern Alaska Inupiaq weddings. Cyd Martin (University of Alaska, Fairbanks) 3. Packaged in Japan: elite weddings in Osaka. Masami Suga (Independent scholar, St. Paul, Minnesota) 4. Korean wedding dress from the Chosun Dynasty (1392-1910) to the present. Na Young Hong (Ewha Women's University, Seoul, Korea) 5. Marriage and dowry customs of the Rabadi of Kachchh: evolving traditions. Eiluned Moir Edwards (De Montford University) 6. Pragmatism and enigmas: the Panetar and Gharcholu saris in Gujarati weddings. Donald Clay Johnson (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis) 7. Swazi bridal attire: culture, traditions, customs. Laura Kidd (Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Lombuso S. Khoza, Southern Illinois University) 8. Gender, identity, and Moroccan weddings: the adornment of the Ait Khabhash Berber bride and groom. Cynthia Becker(University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota) 9. An Athenian wedding, year 2000. Helen Bradley Foster (College of Visual Arts, St. Paul, Minnesota) 10. An historic perspective of English and Soviet bridalwear between 1900 and 1960. Janice Mee (De Montford University, Leicester, England, Irina Safronova, St. Petersburg State University of Technology and Design) 11. He gave her sandals and she gave him a tunic: cloth and weddings in the Andes. Lynn A. Meisch (St. Mary's College of California, Moraga) 12. Slavic wedding customs on two continents. Patricia Williams (University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point) 13. Always remembering the motherland: Tai Dam wedding textiles and dress. Elyse Demaray (Iowa State University, Ames, Melody Keim-Shenk, Iowa State University) 14. The groom wore a kilt: carnivalesque and theme weddings. Theresa Winge (and Joanne Eicher, both University of Minnesota)
