Full Description
Analyzing dress, costume, and fashion in Puerto Rico, this collection utilizes case studies that explore national identity and nation formation as well as past and current practices in Puerto Rican visual culture.
As the last Spanish-speaking colony with an ever-growing diaspora, Puerto Rico presents a unique opportunity to study national identity and nation formation through dress and fashion. In Dress, Fashion, and National Identity in Puerto Rico, José Blanco F. and Raúl J. Vázquez-López combine new material and previously published essays that review diverse aspects of visual culture in Puerto Rico.
The book is divided into three sections that define and redefine the terms "dress", "costume", and "fashion" through case studies that include the resurgence of native Taíno imagery, the Young Lords' resistance through dress, the iconic Jíbaro peasants, festival and dance costumes, and the fashion of Puerto Rican Miss Universe contestants.
This much-needed addition to the literature around fashion in Latin America offers incisive and informed discussion for students and scholars of dress and fashion, identity, Latin American studies, and all those interested in the history and visual culture of this fascinating country.
Contents
Introduction
Part 1: Puerto Rican Dress
1. Taíno Nation: Recovering Native Identities via Dress
2. Dressing the Jíbaros: Puerto Rican Peasants' Clothing through Time and Space
3. Palante: The Young Lords Fashioning Resistance
Part 2: Puerto Rican Costume
4. Dress and Dance in Puerto Rico
5. The Santiago Apóstol Festival in Loíza
6. King Herod's Masked Soldiers: The Festival de Máscaras de Hatillo
Part 3: Puerto Rican Fashion
7. Notes on the History of the Fashion Industry in Puerto Rico
8. From Traditions to Fantasy: The National Costume for Puerto Rican Miss Universe Contestants
9. Lost in Design: The Absence (Mostly) of Cultural Heritage in Puerto Rican Fashion Design
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index
