The Archaeology of Fashion

Using inherited garments, how is the choice of clothing significant in the context of the wearer’s surroundings and culture? How does it communicate one’s self-identity as a first-generation American?

When we dress ourselves, we are visually narrating to the world how we wish to be seen. Therefore, styling is a form of storytelling. It provides a framework to express cultural connections and ethnic pride across place and time; the outfit tells a story. Author Nicole K. Rivas combines visual and material culture to investigate sartorial representations of self-identity from the perspective of first-generation Americans, using garments of the past through contemporary archaeological approaches.

Touching on themes of memory, upbringing, culture, and autonomy, this book is ideal for students of Fashion and Personal Style, Textiles, Art, Material Culture, Cultural Anthropology, Gender Studies, and History.