Clothing: a global history : or, the imperialists' new clothes

Abstract

In most countries of the world people today are dressed in very similar clothing. This book gives an analysis of the process by which this has come about. At the same time it takes seriously those places where this process has not occurred, or has been reversed, and provides explanations for these developments. The first part of this book recounts how the cultural, political and economic power of Europe and, from the later nineteenth century North America, has provided an impetus for the adoption of whatever was at that time standard Western dress. Set against this, Ross shows how the adoption of European style dress, or its rejection, has always been a political act, performed most frequently in order to claim equality with colonial masters, more often a male option, or to stress distinction from them, which women, perhaps under male duress, more frequently did.