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Dress in Art: Worldwide

Dress in Art: Worldwide

in Art: Worldwide

In the visual arts, dress often indicates social status and eco- • Visual Arts nomic position. Again, using Egyptian art as an example, priests • Literary Arts were often represented wearing leopard-skin , while chil- dren of royal families were identifi ed by their shaved heads and • Masks side ponytails called the lock of youth or lock of Horus. Servants • Dress as Art and laborers can be identifi ed because they are pictured wearing fewer and simpler clothes or even no ; however, regard- • Wearable Art less of their clothing, they were still dressed with shaved heads or wigs and collar . Th e holistic role of dress in painting can be illustrated by ex- amining one particular visual art, in this case Mughal miniature rtists around the world and over time have understood that painting. During the Mughal Empire in India in the sixteenth and A dress helps tell the story of their subject, often without the seventeenth centuries c.e. , the art of miniature painting was at its benefi t of words. Details about identity are conveyed by the style, height. Miniatures are paintings about the size of a sheet of pho- color, and make of dress and how it is assembled into an ensem- tocopy paper that are rendered in extremely fi ne detail. Layers of ble. As such, dress is an important part of the arts worldwide. paper made from bamboo, jute, linen, or silk were glued together Art can be defi ned as the conscious use of skill and the cre- and polished, which gives the fi nal paintings depth and luminosity. ative imagination in the creation of objects, music, or literature. Many diff erent kinds of brushes, paints, and pigments were used Like the word dress , art can describe both the process and the end to create portraits of Mughal rulers, their families, and courtiers. result. Th e end result can be assessed according to how skillfully Some illustrations were narrative, depicting daily scenes, success- the artist has used the elements and principles of design in a way ful hunting expeditions, or the histories of great leaders like the that has signifi cance to the viewer. Art or the arts includes the fourteenth-century central Asian ruler Tamerlane. Th ese paint- visual arts , the literary arts , and the performing arts. Th e per- ings were created exclusively for the court and so never intended forming arts, such as theater, dance, and music, also include the for consumption by commoners. Value was placed on being true use of masks . In addition, dress can be considered an art form in to the facts of the subject or scene, which often led the artist to be and of itself. attracted to unusual fi gures, such as the obese musician, the ema- ciated ascetic, or the Ethiopian with dark skin. Th is also meant VISUAL ARTS rendering even the tiniest details accurately—the enamel work on a hair ornament or the setting and cut of a jewel. Th e visual arts comprise painting, sculpture, photography, print- In terms of dress, Mughal princes supported a host of court making, rendering, illustration, , mosaic, and masks. Vi- weavers, dyers, and other artisans whose job was to design and sual evidence of people using dress dates to the Upper Paleolithic, create cloth and clothing of such beauty and skill that the maj- forty-fi ve thousand to ten thousand years ago. Figures of plump esty of the royal household would radiate outward. Th ese tex- women carved out of stone, called “Venus fi gures,” appear to have tile specialists created some of the fi nest-quality in the styled hair and made of string fringe. In the visual arts, world. Fabrics were woven with intricate designs in and dress acts as a shorthand method of communication,BERG contribut- thread. Finished fabrics were printed with detailed motifs in ing key information about the subject. Th e visual arts can also be many bright colors that did not fade. Spinners spun cotton into a source of information about dress, such as when certain styles threads so fi ne that the fi nished woven fabric was almost trans- were worn,COPYRIGHT how they were worn together with other body modi- parent. Indian muslins were said to be so sheer that when dipped fi cations or supplements, and how they were made. in water, the fabric would seem to disappear. All of these details In art around the world, the color, cut, and type of dress help were reproduced in Mughal miniature paintings. In a portrait of the viewer identify the subject. In pre-Columbian Mexican art, Raja Jai Singh of (1625–1668), his grandson wears a type pictorial manuscripts called codices depict the divine ancestors of made of this sheer muslin fabric; the viewer can see the of human Mixtec kings. Th e viewer knows the fi gures are divine motifs and cut of the trouser fabric underneath. Exquisite tex- by the way they are dressed. For example, in the Nuttal Codex, tiles were also created for use as draperies, canopies, pillow and painted sometime in the mid-fi fteenth century c.e., one human- cushion covers, and carpets. production in India in the like fi gure is dressed in a striking eagle costume and another sixteenth and seventeenth centuries had to be extremely sophis- wears a head costume with both feline and bird features. In an- ticated to create such exquisite fabrics long before the days of the cient Egyptian art, pharaohs are identifi ed by their . A tall alizarin dyes, microfi bers, and computerized looms that are com- red indicated rule over lower Egypt, and a tall white bowl- mon in the twenty-fi rst century. ing pin–shaped crown indicated rule overPUBLISHERS upper Egypt. Wearing In Mughal miniature painting, dress and textiles are an im- both crowns simultaneously as one headpiece was called a pschent portant part of the subject and how the subject was presented. In and symbolized rule over both upper and lower Egypt. Statuary court scenes, the raja , or king, is the focus of the painting, seated and reliefs found in King Tutankhamen’s tomb show him wear- on a raised and cushioned throne. Th e throne sits on a richly pat- ing each of these crown styles, though he is most well recognized terned carpet, beneath an equally beautiful canopy. Often, rajas wearing the gold-and-blue-striped headdress called a nemes . are wearing the fi nest textiles in the picture and are dripping 110 DRESS AND THE ARTS WORLDWIDE

Detail of a mosaic in the Villa Romana del Casale, Piazza Armerina, Sicily, Italy (third–fourth centuries C .E.). The women depicted are engaged in athletic competitions and wear bandeaux tops and , similar to the beachwear worn by women in the twentieth and early twenty-fi rst centuries. Vincenzo Lombardo /Getty Images. with . With all this majesty compressed into one image, the in the fourth century c.e. and is a UNESCO World Heritage site viewer is very clear about the powerful identity of the subject. because it contains the richest, largest, and most complex collec- Similarly, princesses can be identifi ed in portraits by their elegant tion of Roman mosaics in the world. One favorite mosaic is that of clothing, fi ne , and ornate jewelry. In contrast, villag- the “bikini girls”—a series of images of women engaged in various ers wear more utilitarian clothing, and soldiers wear and athletic activities. Th ey wear bandeaux tops and briefs that look armor. Even the Virgin Mary is easily identifi ed in Mughal rep- just like modern . Roman women have often been thought resentations of Christian subjects by her blue and halo. of as modest and well covered, but this mosaic shows that some Each of these dress cues points to the kinds of wealth and social Roman women engaged in sports—and in sports clothes. position that Mughal royalty and commoners held in medieval Another series of mosaics illustrating dress and the times are India. those of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian and the Empress Th e- In turn, the visual arts are important sources of information odora, created around 547 c.e. in Ravenna, Italy. Justinian is pic- about dress. In Mughal miniature portraits and depictions of tured with his courtiers and clergy. In what they are wearing one events, artists rendered the properties of dress inBERG suffi cient de- can see the styles of Roman Imperial dress, elements of which tail to communicate the type of fabric, the style of the garments, have been preserved in twenty-fi rst century Christian ecclesiasti- and what accessories of dress were worn to complete an ensem- cal dress. Th eodora wears a fabulous headdress and appears to be ble appropriateCOPYRIGHT for the wearer. Royal women wore voluminous an early example of the “dripping with pearls” look that reappears bifurcated garments with overskirts and long , bangles from time to time throughout the history of dress, most recently symmetrically balanced on each wrist, and bindis , or decorations , evident in twenty-fi rst-century designer Karl Lagerfeld’s collec- on the middle of their foreheads. Th e student of dress can see tions for Chanel. that women wore their hair long and covered their heads, a com- As a source of information about dress, painting is lim- mon practice among women in South Asia, the Middle East, ited because fi gures are two-dimensional. Sculptures, however, and Europe at this time. Th e viewer can also see that, at least are carved in the round, giving the viewer a better sense of the among royal women, modesty did not include completely ob- whole garment. For example, the Heniochus of Delphi is a mar- scuring the breasts, because their were apparently often ble statue of a Greek charioteer. His chiton , or tunic, is draped made of sheer fabric. Indeed, the cut of their blouses is so clearly over his shoulders and fastened. Th e fabric of his garment is un- rendered that a pattern maker could draft patterns to reproduce derstood to be a lightweight cloth because of the small pleats it them. In addition, changes in styles of dress over time are evident makes. Th e charioteer’s hairstyle is held in place with a band tied in miniatures from 1570 to 1700. Th us,PUBLISHERS the visual arts are also a behind his head. Even though the charioteer is standing still, the source of information about the time and place the artwork was style of his tunic and hair indicates that he is a man of action. completed. As with this charioteer, sculpture documents dress practices that Mosaics were popular forms of artistic impression from classi- may no longer exist. For example, in many parts of the world, cal Greek and Roman times through the Byzantine Empire. Th e traditional body-modifi cation practices are restricted by govern- Villa Romana del Casale, on the island of Sicily, was constructed ment legislation that seeks to present a more “modern” face to the DRESS IN ART: WORLDWIDE 111

sat on dark elephants, their necklaces swaying with the movement of the elephants” ( Narayan 1972, 31). As the description continues, the reader is transported to this wedding of the gods. U.S. author F. Scott Fitzgerald kept lists documenting the popular culture of the 1920s. In his writing, he drew from these lists to create vivid images of his characters or the action. For ex- ample, in his novel Th e Great Gatsby the title character is giving his neighbor and old fl ame, Daisy, a tour of his mansion. Gatsby appears to be at pains to impress his guests with his wealth. As they enter his bedroom, Gatsby opened for us two hulking patent cabinets which held his massed and dressing and ties, and his , piled like bricks in stacks a dozen high. “I’ve got a man in England who buys me clothes. He sends over a selection of things at the beginning of each season, spring and fall.” He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fi ne fl annel, which lost their folds as they fell and cov- ered the table in many-colored disarray. While we admired he brought more and the soft rich heap mounted higher— shirts with stripes and scrolls and plaids in coral and apple- green and lavender and faint orange, with monograms of Indian blue. ( Fitzgerald 1925, 83–84) In this passage the reader understands that Gatsby must be nouveau riche—so newly wealthy that he does not really know quality or style in dress. He relies on the wisdom of a man from England, the source of tasteful men’s dress, who purchases his wardrobe for him. From phrases like “soft rich heap,” readers sur- mise that the shirts are indeed high quality. And as Gatsby tosses The Charioteer of Delphi, a votive offering from Polyzalos, prince of Syracuse, ever more shirts into the air, he displays that he has much more after victory in the races of 474 or 478 B .C.E., Greece. Sculptures give a good than he needs. He is extremely wealthy, indeed. sense of the whole garment being worn, and in this case the small pleats in Authors also use descriptions of dress to engage the reader the charioteer’s tunic indicate that he is wearing a lightweight cloth. © 1990. emotionally. In Kiran Desai’s novel Th e Inheritance of Loss (2006), Photo SCALA, Florence. Archaeological Museum, Delphi. the police in a small northern Indian hamlet rummage through a family servant’s belongings following a robbery. Th e servant’s possessions include only a few clothes, a razor blade, a sliver of soap, and a broken with a knob that drops into the grass as world. Scarifi cation is one of these modifi cations. However,BERG the the police search. Th is scene takes place early in the book and cre- Smithsonian Institution holds a small nineteenth-century statue ates sympathy in the reader for the servant. Clearly, his employers of a young African man with the scarifi cation pattern on his back do not know him very well, even after a lifetime of service. He carefully reproduced.COPYRIGHT What makes this statue especially interest- is caught in the kind of poverty in which precious things have ing is that he is also wearing a with motifs almost identical to little value. And he has no more signifi cance to the police than the designs on his back. Often, similar motifs appear in both body the wind-up knob lost in the grass. Th ese characteristics of the art and dress, textile design, or other domestic applications. servant are played out as the story progresses. When descriptions of dress in literature are combined with LITERARY ARTS details about other facets of everyday life, like food, housing, and the rhythm of family activities, the reader can glimpse a truth Descriptions of dress off er an important strategy for authors of that goes beyond facts. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (2005), by novels, dramas, short stories, essays, and poetry to convey the novelist Lisa See , tells the story of two women in a rural village personalities of their characters or the setting of their stories. in nineteenth-century China. Th ey are laotong, or “old sames,” a Authors of ancient texts use dress details sparingly but clarify the kind of arranged lifelong friendship between girls. Included in the economic or social positions of the people described. For exam- story of their friendship are descriptions of the Chinese practice ple, the Indian epic Th e Ramayana, dating PUBLISHERSfrom between 1500 and of foot binding. Foot binding is such a dramatic body modifi ca- 400 b.c.e. , uses dress descriptions to good eff ect in the account tion that Euro-American descriptions of the practice are often of the procession of merrymakers on their way to Rama and Sita’s muddled with preconceptions and misconceptions. As a Chinese wedding: “Th e sun’s rays were caught and refl ected by the thou- American author who spent time in rural China to research this sands of white satin and the brilliant decorations of the book, See wanted to write about foot binding from the perspec- army men. Heavy-breasted women clad in gossamer-like draperies tive of the women and girls who grew up with it. She tells the 112 DRESS AND THE ARTS WORLDWIDE story through the voice of one of the women friends. Her words, Masks are an especially appealing art form because they are so which carry the of truth, indicate that foot binding is one of self-contained. Masks are often about the size of the human face many life-cycle rituals and daily routines that fulfi lled social goals or at least no larger than an individual can manage without as- and created a life for many Chinese women not that long ago. sistance. Th ey have predictable features—eyes, nose, mouth, and A reader may refl ect on the body modifi cations practiced in the possibly ears and hair. Th ey almost always have a human expres- twenty-fi rst century that relate to cultural values. sion. And a human is required to bring the mask to life. Within Finally, in the literary arts, authors may use dress as a meta- this standard framework, there is opportunity for infi nite variety; phor. Th e Persian poet Rumi (1207–1273) wrote eloquent poems there is variety within a unity. Th us, this art has a predetermined on the human condition. In “ Solomon’s Crooked Crown ,” Rumi structure, and the viewer can appreciate the skill with which the described how King Solomon’s inner thoughts were disrupting mask conceals the identity of the human and captures the per- the community and how his crown kept slipping askew: sonality of the character. Evidence of masking has been found in Paleolithic sculp- Finally, he began to talk to his headpiece. tures and cave paintings in southwestern Europe and northern “Why do you keep tilting over my eyes?” Africa. Masks are made of a wide variety of materials, including “I have to. When your power loses compassion, wood, cloth, metal, clay, and stone. Vegetable fi bers, hair, precious I have to show what such a condition looks like.” (Rumi 1995, stones, and paint add color, texture, movement, and expression to 190–191) masks. Mask carving is still an important aesthetic tradition in many societies where it is actively preserved. Th e poem suggests listening when the crown speaks; when things Masks fulfi ll a number of culturally determined functions, go awry, one should look within oneself for the cause. In this such as entertainment and storytelling, communication with case, the crooked crown is a metaphor for being out of touch. nature spirits, healing and community well-being, agricultural fertility, initiation and coming of age, and social control and lead- MASKS ership. For example, in Japan, the Noh drama originated with rice-planting and harvesting rituals and developed into theatri- Masking—the use of masks—is an ancient tradition and is prac- cal performances that deal with relationships with supernatural ticed all over the world. Th e purpose of a mask is usually to con- beings, human relationships, and social concerns. Th e Society of ceal identity, though masks also protect, for example, in the form Faces of the Iroquois uses masks to cure illness and to keep dis- of gas masks and surgical masks. Concealing identity can be a ease at bay. One type of mask among the Dan, in southeastern requirement of nefarious activities, such as robbing banks and Liberia, is used to organize judicial decisions, law enforcement, terrorizing others, as well as of celebrations, like dressing up for criminal punishment, and the collection of fi nes. Th is type of Halloween or Mardi Gras. As an art, masks are created and worn mask is part of a hierarchy of masks and can take more responsi- for ritual events or cultural traditions. bility for social control, if necessary. BERG COPYRIGHT

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Mehendi hand, 2007. This temporary henna design, called mehendi , was placed to highlight the shape of the hand and shows that the body itself can be a canvas for art. Photograph by Sandra Lee Evenson. DRESS IN ART: WORLDWIDE 113

Because masks serve cultural needs, they are created within a cultural matrix of ideas about what the mask is supposed to look like based on the role it plays. As such, even a fi erce and fright- ening mask has an agreeable aesthetic unity. An article of dress, masks are also satisfying as a stand-alone art form. Because masks must fi t the human wearer, they are a type of wearable art .

DRESS AS ART Th e body, its dress, and the dressed body are legitimate forms of art in themselves. Scholars from many disciplines have writ- ten and published on the subject of body art, the decorated body, and the quest for human beauty. Anthropologists suspect that the oldest type of art was personal decoration, using ornaments such as beads, , , and necklaces. Archaeologi- cal digs around the world often uncover ancient grave sites in which individuals are buried with bead necklaces and, if the body is preserved, body pigments or tattoos. Ötzi, a naturally formed mummy found in the Ötztal Alps between Austria and Italy in 1991, is about 5,300 years old. His preserved body includes tattoos in basic patterns of dots and lines on his lower spine, behind his left knee, and on his right ankle. Th e body is certainly a handy surface to decorate with symbolic expression or for aesthetic pleasure. Desmond Morris, a zoologist by profession, has turned his eye on human behavior. He has noted that even though some animals decorate their nesting areas to attract mates in what appears to be an artistic , humans are the only animals with a drive to make art, interested in more than just survival and reproduc- ing their own genes. He cites examples including the cave paint- ings at Lascaux, sand castles, Greek pottery, the Old Masters of This garment, embroidered by a north Indian Rabari woman, is encrusted with classical art, and body decoration around the world. Creating art mirrors and detailed embroidery in a rainbow of colors to exhibit the skills of is a behavior that separates humans from the rest of the animal the artisan. When the garment is worn, as on this small Rabari girl, the body kingdom. becomes a moving work of art and a feast for the eye. Photograph by Sandra When European and North American traders, sailors, and Lee Evenson, 2007. missionaries began their exploration of worlds beyond their bor- ders, they brought back traveler’s tales, sketches, and photographs of the people and places they encountered. Often, this evidence a carnival. An African Nuba youth paints his whole body in strik- focused on how diff erent other people looked from themselves. ing patterns that emphasize his physical strength, prowess, and Library archives are rich storehouses of images of peopleBERG with male beauty. Japanese irezumi tattooing is very colorful and often tattoos, scarifi cation, body paint, face paint, headdresses, huge covers most of the body, whereas a single-color sorority symbol bracelets and necklaces of exotic materials like coral and ebony, might decorate a student’s ankle in the United States. Scarifi ca- and garmentsCOPYRIGHT intricately woven, embroidered, or printed with tion changes the texture of the skin, but the results vary. Among fantastically detailed motifs. Even in the twenty-fi rst century, the the Tiv, scarifi cation patterns were isolated to specifi c areas of the globe trotter is most interested in bringing home photographs body, such as the face, and styles changed over time. For Ga’anda that document amazing travel encounters. Even though many women in Nigeria, scarifi cation patterns followed strict guidelines, men in India wear Western-style dress shirts, , and athletic emphasizing social unity. Hair can be shaved, cut, dyed, textured, , travelers are usually far more interested in photograph- and starched to create fascinating eff ects. Cosmetic makeup can ing the Rajasthani village man in a , heavily pleated white assist in achieving a society’s ideals of physical beauty, while stage cotton , and embroidered shoes; he is not merely more makeup can turn a South Indian dancer into a god. Each of these exotic—he is also a work of art, compared to prosaic everyday modifi cations is completed within a culturally defi ned aesthetic Western dress. against which the skill level can be judged. Dress is itself an art form and takes many shapes. One can Dress is likewise a canvas for artistry. Everyday world dress, study dress as art by breaking it down into its component parts, such as cowboy or jeans, can be embellished to an individu- viewing the body, dress, and the dressed bodyPUBLISHERS all as canvases for al’s satisfaction. Silk and gold saris from Varanasi, India, are intri- artistic expression. When the body is viewed as a canvas upon cately woven into brocade patterns of many colors, with borders which artistic creativity can be applied, dress is easily seen as and paloos , or draped ends, that sweep over a woman’s shoulder modifi cations of or supplements to the body. All aspects of the from front to back. Th e sari is certainly beautiful on the wearer, body can be modifi ed in a wide variety of ways, but the cultural but it can also stand alone as a work of art draped on a wall. Simi- aesthetic may vary. A British child might have his face painted at larly, geometrically cut Japanese are often embellished 114 DRESS AND THE ARTS WORLDWIDE asymmetrically, with the design—perhaps a mountain vista or expanse of fl owers—extending over the surface from one sleeve across the back to the other sleeve. Again, the adorns the wearer, but the viewer can also appreciate the eff ect of the design when the kimono is hung by its shoulders on a rod. Th e body and dress together—the dressed body—also form a canvas for artistry. Th e sari and the kimono are primarily fl at fab- rics draped on the body. Th e size and shape of the body are really not important. However, when the body is used as an armature, or framework, for dress, then the body becomes crucial to the fi nal eff ect. For example, the Japanese designer Issey Miyake is known for his creative cutting and styling of fabrics (often syn- thetic ones) into garments that fold up into fl at geometric shapes. Th e garments do not look like garments until they are placed on the human body. Th en, they become works of modern art. Th e embroidered shoes made for Chinese women’s bound feet off er a contrasting example. For about a thousand years, between the tenth and twentieth centuries c.e. , it was common practice to bind the feet of young girls so as to drastically modify the shape of the foot and restrict its growth. Th e result was ideally a foot only three inches (7.6 centimeters) long, referred to as a “golden lotus.” Such tiny feet were considered both erotic and symbolic of chastity because a woman with bound feet was very limited in her mobility, restricting her to her home. Shoes were called “lotus ” and were made in a wide variety of styles and col- ors. Some styles were specifi cally for use during the foot-binding process, some for everyday wear, others for weddings; and still others were bed slippers, to wear at night over the bindings. Th e wearer almost always embroidered her own shoes, and great at- tention was paid to the symbolism of color and motif. Wedding shoes were a shade of red, from fuchsia to soft red-orange. Shoes for middle-aged women were subdued colors such as blue-gray or blue-green. Pattern books could be purchased with motifs drawn from nature, such as fl owers, foliage, insects, and animals. Th e quality of the stitching contributed to the artistic success of “Dance of Textiles” celebration coat, 1997. Textile artist Rob Hillestad created the —and to the marriageability of the girl. Golden lotus this coat, which is “wearable art,” from materials gathered from former stu- feet and beautifully made shoes spoke volumes about the per- dents, colleagues, and friends. Photograph courtesy of Robert Hillestad. sonal qualities of the bride to her future in-laws. Author Beverly Jackson has recounted a type of beauty contest characteristic of certain villages in rural China where strict proceduresBERG were fol- and creating a sheer, draping fabric called pelete bite. Because pe- lowed to ensure perfectly bound feet. At the same time, designers lete bite is unique to the Kalabari and symbolizes Kalabari ethnic of original embroidery patterns were recognized for their artistry. identity, wrappers of pelete bite are used for the most important JacksonCOPYRIGHT has described the process of seating contestants behind life-cycle rituals, from birth to motherhood to death and entry screens, permitting only the exquisitely shod feet to be visible to into the next life. the judges. As a result, a woman of any age had the same chance of winning as a beautiful young girl. Th us, it was the combination WEARABLE ART of the shape of the foot and the quality of the that resulted in an artistic, aesthetic ideal. When the beauty of a silk sari, a painted kimono, or a lotus - Pageantry and celebrations of ethnic identity often call for and per is appreciated, it is a short step from there to understanding result in artistry in dress. Like saris and kimonos, these types of dress as wearable art. Wearable art is also referred to as artwear ethnic garments are frequently geometrical in shape, the better to or art to wear and usually consists of one-of-a-kind pieces of fi t a wide variety of bodies and be handed down and the better clothing or jewelry created as fi ne or expressive art. Th e deliber- to act as a canvas for beautiful work. For example, dragon ate goal of creating art to wear is a recent phenomenon. Some from imperial China, French , and Russian Orthodox scholars have pointed to infl uences from modern art in the 1930s ecclesiastical dress exemplify some of PUBLISHERSthe fi nest embroidery the and 1940s, when artists like Pablo Picasso applied their creativity world has ever seen. In contrast to embroidery added to fabric as to everyday objects. Others see the 1960s counterculture with its decoration, Kalabari women artisans in Nigeria use a process of “back to basics” values and a return to the handmade as a power- subtraction to remove the light and bright threads from Indian ful infl uence. Wearable art often begins at the fi ber level, relying madras plaid cloth, superimposing fi ne patterns into the cloth on a deep understanding of the properties of the materials such DRESS IN ART: WORLDWIDE 115 as fi bers, dyes, and pigments. Artisanship in handweaving, hand- Eicher , Joanne B., Sandra Lee Evenson , and Hazel A. Lutz . Th e Visible , and hand- contributes to the creation of the Self: Global Perspectives on Dress, Culture, and Society. N e w Yo r k: fi nal piece. When the wearable-art piece is designed for a particu- Fairchild Publications , 2008 . lar person, the combination of the wearable art and the individual Fitzgerald , F. Scott. Th e Great Gatsby. New York: Charles Scribner’s wearer can be powerful for the viewer. Sons, 1925 . Sometimes dress can be used as a medium of expression Fowler , Brenda . Iceman: Uncovering the Life and Times of a Prehistoric Man without being wearable. In other words, an artist may select Found in an Alpine Glacier. Chicago : University of Chicago Press, dress as his or her medium just as another artist would select 2001 . oil paints or clay or glass. One artist, Mary Barelli Gallagher, Gilbert , Katherine Stoddert , ed. Treasures of Tutankhamun. N e w Yo r k: has created a using bikinis as the motif. A brilliant sun fi lls Ballantine Books, 1976 . one corner and an hourglass the opposite corner. Another artist, H a j e k, L u b o r. Indian Miniatures of the Mughal School. L o n d o n: S p r i n g Victoria Fuller, created Shoe of Shoes , a sculpture composed of Books, 1960 . cast and welded smaller aluminum shoes. A third, Liz White, Jackson , Beverly . Splendid Slippers: A Th ousand Years of an Erotic Tradi- strung thousands of empty diet-pill capsules and used them to tion . Berkeley, CA : Ten Speed Press , 1997 . build a 1920s-style fringed fl apper dress on a dress form as a Mack , John , ed. Masks and the Art of Expression. New York: Harry N. comment on the U.S. obsession with thin bodies. On the Uni- Abrams, 1994 . versity of Idaho campus, a student draped fabric printed with Morris , Desmond . Th e Human Animal: A Personal View of the Human the U.S. fl ag upside down on a dress form as part of a wearable- Species. London : BBC Books, 1994 . art exhibit, to question the relationship between the United N a r a y a n, R . K . Th e Ramayana . New York : Penguin Books , 1972 . States and Iraq, making headlines across the state. In each of Nuttal , Zelia , ed. Th e Codex Nuttall: A Picture Manuscript from Ancient these examples, the artist takes dress as both the subject and the Mexico. New York: Dover Publications, 1975 . medium to make a personal statement others can interpret and Rumi . “ Solomon’s Crooked Crown .” In Th e Essential Rumi, 190–191 . to which they can react. Translated by Huston Smith . New York : Quality Paperback Book Club, 1995 . References and Further Reading S e e, L i s a. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan . New York : Random House , 2005 . S m i t h, F r e d T. “M a s k s.” I n Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion , edited by B a s h a m, A . L . Th e Wonder Th at Was India. C a l c u t t a: R u p a a n d C o ., Valerie Steele , 388–393 . Detroit, MI : Th omson Gale, 2005 . 1967 . Tortora , Phyllis , and Keith Eubank . Survey of Historic Costume. 3rd ed. Berns , Marla . “Ga’anda Scarifi cation: A Model for Art and Identity .” In New York : Fairchild Publications , 2004 . Marks of Civilization: Artistic Transformation of the Human Body, Virel , André . Decorated Man: Th e Human Body as Art. N e w Yo r k: H a r r y N . edited by Arnold Rubin , 57–76 . Los Angeles: Museum of Cultural Abrams, 1979 . History, University of California , 1988 . Bohannon , Paul . “Beauty and Scarifi cation amongst the Tiv.” In Marks Sandra Lee Evenson of Civilization: Artistic Transformation of the Human Body, edited by Arnold Rubin , 77–82 . Los Angeles : Museum of Cultural History, University of California , 1988 . See also Dress and Art: Western ; Dress as Costume in the Th e- B r a i n, R o b e r t. Th e Decorated Body. New York: Harper & Row, 1979 . ater and Performing Arts ; Flowers in the Art of Dress across the Desai , Kiran . Th e Inheritance of Loss. New York: Grove PressBERG, 2006 . World . COPYRIGHT

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