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 Booklist Review
Even as the world becomes more global and homogeneous, members of different cultures and countries still express their distinctions through their clothing. Encyclopedia of National Dress attempts to identify the type of dress that best expresses the identity of more than 130 nations or autonomous regions. In some cases, such as the Japanese kimono, this is straightforward; in others, particularly younger countries like Israel, it can be more challenging. Ranging from 1,500 to 7,000 words, articles begin with brief historical and geographical context (derived from the CIA World Factbook) in order to inform the discussion in the main body of each entry, People and Dress. Depending on the region, subsections describe such topics as materials and techniques, iconic types of garments, sartorial differences among ethnic or religious groups, and jewelry and body modification, such as tattooing or body painting. As the introduction acknowledges, with the adoption of Western dress by cultures throughout the world, folk dress in many countries is increasingly limited to festivals or ceremonies. Even identifying a particular type of dress that exemplifies an entire country can be a challenge there are two chapters devoted to Australia, for example, to differentiate between the dress of Aboriginal Australians and European settlers, as well as four devoted to particular regions of the U.S. Hawaii, Hispanic West, New England, and Native North America. Each article includes a handful of photographs; however, the images are black and white and generally small. Although the text describing the national dress of the various countries is detailed, it is no substitute for an image, especially when the importance of color or detail is being emphasized. Color photos, preferably larger, would have been a valuable addition. Despite this flaw, the set will provide students with a user-friendly resource for country reports or other social-studies research. Supplementary materials, such as a list of museums with strong national dress/textile collections and a selected bibliography, also suggest additional avenues for more in-depth study. Recommended for large public and high-school library collections.--Harmon, Lindsay Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
As world culture becomes ever more homogeneous, national dress seems reduced to the ubiquitous triumvirate of blue jeans, T-shirt, and sneakers. While acknowledging this trend in her preface, Condra (clothing and textiles history, Univ. of British Columbia; Greenwood Encyclopedia of Clothing Through World History) nonetheless points out that "many people around the world still identify themselves, even if only for special occasions or festivals, with a style of dress that is unique to their own way of living and reflective of their history." Therefore, an aim of this set is to document the varied and colorful clothing styles from around the globe before their eventual disappearance. Traditional costumes from more than 130 nations, regions, and islands are detailed in 80-plus entries. The basic entry format is an overview of the nation's history and geography, a synopsis of typical style of clothing for men and women, and, in some cases, mention of jewelry, special occasion/regional dress, and body modification/body art. The nontechnical, straightforward material is written by specialists, such as fashion historians and museum curators, many of whom reside in the country of which they write. Articles of clothing are well described and often accompanied by black-and-white photographs. The signed entries conclude with further-reading suggestions, and appendixes offer a listing of "Museums of National Dress and Textile Collections" and a selected bibliography. VERDICT -Libraries have a healthy range of options, as reference literature regarding fashion/dress/costume history is fairly extensive, from the one-volume Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Costume all the way up to the 6,000-page, ten-volume Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion. All things considered, not least price and accessibility, this set is perfectly adequate for its intended audience of public and school library users.-Michael Bemis, St. Paul (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up-Intended for students who need a greater understanding of how individual dress is influenced by culture, available materials, and climate, the information in this set is broken down either by country or by regions that include a few countries. While every nation is not represented, all major cultures of the world are here, covered in 1,500- to 7,000-word articles that offer background information and detail on men's and women's dress-explaining the materials used and the various types of clothing observed where more than one ethnic group lives in a country or region. Articles close with lists of mainly print further-reading suggestions. Access is enhanced by the cross-referenced entry guide and the index that allow readers to compare different types of clothing between countries quickly. While its rich, descriptive language attempts to give readers a full picture of dress around the world, the lack of large color illustrations limits this set's use; the small black-and-white pictures and drawings provided don't add much. Doreen Yarwood's Illustrated Encyclopedia of World Costume (Dover, 2011) covers some of the same material but its alphabetical-by-clothing arrangement makes it less useful for country studies. Valerie Steele's Encyclopedia of Clothing and Fashion (Scribners, 2004) is mainly set up like Yarwood's book but presents some information by region. Both also have black-and-white illustrations. Patricia Rieff Anawalt's The Worldwide History of Dress limits the number of words used, but makes up for that with large color pictures and breaks down the information by region then country. This ABC-CLIO work could be an additional purchase for libraries that have Anawalt's book.-Ann West LaPrise, Huron School Dist., New Boston, MI (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Choice Review
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