The Archaeology of Clothing and Bodily Adornment in Colonial America

The Archaeology of Clothing and Bodily Adornment in Colonial America
Author: Diana DiPaolo Loren
University Press of Florida
2011
ISBN: 0813038030
Pages: 140
Language: English
Format: PDF
Size: 70 MB

"Highly readable but also innovative in its approach to a broad array of material from diverse colonial contexts."- Carolyn White, University of Nevada, Reno "Loren brings together a sampling of the extensive literature on the archaeology of clothing and adornment to argue that artifacts of the body acquire their meaning through cultural practice. She shows how dress serves as social discourse and a tool of identity negotiation."- Kathleen Deagan, Florida Museum of Natural History Dress has always been a social medium. Color, fabric, and fit of clothing, along with adornments, posture, and manners, convey information on personal status, occupation, religious beliefs, and even sexual preferences. Clothing and adornment are therefore important not only for their utility but also in their expressive properties and the ability of the wearer to manipulate those properties. Diana DiPaolo Loren investigates some ways in which colonial peoples chose to express their bodies and identities through clothing and adornment.