Review by Choice Review
This two-volume set examines over 130 nations and autonomous regions' national dress, folk costumes, and ethnic dress worn on special occasions or for festivals. The focus is on dress that is distinctive to wearers' lifestyles and reflective of their history. Readers glimpse the uniqueness of dress existing in various countries worldwide, as the editor presents historic context for each chapter. By staying away from "judging the ways in which ethnic expression changed and mutated with events such as colonialism," the editor allows individual interpretation of meaning. Each contributor provides geographic and historic background for a topic so that readers may gain an understanding of how a particular ethnic group or culture developed a form of dress. Most entries discuss religion and/or religious dress if the country conforms to strict clothing codes, e.g., in Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Such an entry might discuss Islam, local customs, and the fact that despite nearly identical silhouettes for men and women's clothing, a member of one gender would never wear the clothing of the opposite gender. Entries then discuss specific garments. Matters of race, gender, and class form part of the content in each entry, since those elements may be differentiated, depending on the country, by garments, jewelry, accessories, makeup, body paint, and body modifications. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates, general readers. R. Tolley-Stokes East Tennessee State University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
