Overview

Analyzing dress, costume, and fashion in Puerto Rico, this collection utilizes case studies that explore national identity and nation formation as well as past and current practices in Puerto Rican visual culture. As the last Spanish-speaking colony with an ever-growing diaspora, Puerto Rico presents a unique opportunity to study national identity and nation formation through dress and fashion. In Dress, Fashion, and National Identity in Puerto Rico, José Blanco F. and Raúl J. Vázquez-López combine new material and previously published essays that review diverse aspects of visual culture in Puerto Rico. The book is divided into three sections that define and redefine the terms ""dress"", ""costume"", and ""fashion"" through case studies that include the resurgence of native Taíno imagery, the Young Lords’ resistance through dress, the iconic Jíbaro peasants, festival and dance costumes, and the fashion of Puerto Rican Miss Universe contestants. This much-needed addition to the literature around fashion in Latin America offers incisive and informed discussion for students and scholars of dress and fashion, identity, Latin American studies, and all those interested in the history and visual culture of this fascinating country.

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9781350341920

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Reviews

A thorough and accessible volume highlighting the rich complexity of Puerto Rican identity and its expression through dress, costume, and fashion. The authors' keen understanding of how dress and fashion have become a tool for resistance, endurance, and celebration for Puerto Ricans on and off the island makes this a must-have volume for anyone interested in fashion studies or Latin American studies. -- Melissa Marra, The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, USA A landmark work—rigorous, accessible, and alive with the exuberance and political force of Puerto Rican dress, costume, and fashion. Through the careful recovery and analysis of dress histories, the authors offer a powerful example of decolonial fashion scholarship that challenges and expands how fashion and dress theory have been codified. Their intellectually veracious and sophisticated analysis, delivered with remarkable clarity, makes this book a gift to fashion scholars, students, and enthusiasts alike. -- Ben Barry, School of Fashion, Parsons School of Design, USA This ground-breaking book elucidates the impact of Puerto Rico and its diaspora on contemporary sartorial practices and unpacks the complexity of Puerto Rican identity. -- Tanya Meléndez-Escalante, The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, USA Blanco F. and Vázquez-López elegantly navigate the personal and the political, making a meaningful contribution to the growing scholarship on fashion and decoloniality. Through engaging and accessible prose, they explore the ‘fluidity and ambiguity’ of Puerto Rican dress in the face of centuries of colonization while also celebrating its beauty, joy, and exuberance. -- Lauren Downing Peters, Columbia College Chicago, USA In this timely yet long overdue material culture investigation, revelatory chapters interrogate examples of representational agency within diaspora, colonialism, nationalism, heritage, and liminal states of authority, as diverse and complex as the island itself. -- Michelle McVicker, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, USA Using a diverse range of examples from across Puerto Rican fashion, this book’s engaging voice makes it clear that—from the Taíno’s gold to the pageant’s rhinestones—Boricuas will shine. -- Héctor Omar, Creative Director, HECTOROMAR, Puerto Rico

Author Information

José Blanco F. is Associate Professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, USA. He is the editor of The Meanings of Dress, 5th edition, and has contributed chapters in edited volumes including The Fashion Reader, The Handbook of Masculinity Studies, The Fashion Business Reader, and Transglobal Fashion Narratives. He has published essays in journals including Fashion Theory, Fashion, Style and Popular Culture, Critical Studies in Men’s Fashion, Dress, and The Journal of Popular Culture. Raúl J. Vázquez-López is an independent researcher. He has published extensively on Puerto Rican dress, costume, and fashion and presented on the topic internationally.

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