This anthropological investigation of dress featuring selected scholarly readings is ideal for courses focused on global perspectives and cultural aspects of dress.

Everywhere around the world, people make daily decisions about what to wear or how to dress. The Visible Self, 3rd Edition, presents a systematic approach to analyzing daily rituals that we all share—not simply the act of putting on clothing, but also the method of cleansing the body and adorning it. Using Western and non-Western examples, the authors take a three-pronged approach to understanding dress across cultures, uncovering its relationship to human beings as biological, aesthetic, and social animals. Readings collected from classic books and academic journals enable students to appreciate the complexity of dress from a multidisciplinary perspective that includes anthropology, sociology, economics, fine arts, and the natural sciences.

Everywhere around the world, people make daily decisions about what to wear or how to dress. Using Western and non-Western examples, 'The Visible Self' presents a systematic approach to analyzing these daily rituals that we all share - not simply the act of putting on clothing, but also cleansing the body and adorning it.

The Systematic Study of Dress - The Classification System of Dress - Dress, Culture, and Society - Records of the Types of Dress - Written Interpretations of Dress Physical Appearance. Environment, and Dress - Physical Appearance and Dress - Body, Dress, and Environment Scales of Culture and Dress - Domestic-Scale Culture and Dress - Political-Scale Culture and Dress - Commercial-Scale Culture and Dress Art. Aesthetics, and Dress - The Art of Creating Dress - Ideals for Individual Appearance and the Art of Dress - The Art of Dress: Conformity and Individuality - Dress and the Arts - Dress and the Future - Your Future and Dress - Readings from a variety of sources provide discussion and consideration of controversial issues - Updated examples and current approaches to theoretical orientations, such as new work on the scale of world cultures, genetics, race, and globalization - Revised and expanded art program, including 8-page color insert - Introductory material links each reading to chapter concepts - Expanded end-of-chapter pedagogy will increase utilization of the images and readings - Instructor's Guide provides suggestions for planning the course and using the text in the classroom

All over the world, people get dressed, mostly for the same reasons. Why, then, do we look so different from each other? The answers lie in the constellations of factors that contribute to the human condition, from climate to conformity, gender expression to race and ethnicity. Beginning with the body as the organizing principle around which to study dress, this 50th anniversary edition of The Visible Self makes sense of humans as biological, social, and aesthetic creatures based on cross-disciplinary concepts and examples. It explores the daily act of dress in cultures around the world, using the word “dress” to describe the wide variety of behaviors connected to the act of adorning our bodies-or not-through the use of clothing, modifications, and/or supplements. Political economies are addressed holistically to understand the global world through contemporary topics such as racism and how dress can be used to sustain or rebel against dominant structures. With current examples and relevant readings in every chapter, the authors convey how dress can achieve standards of appearance and social ideals, relate to individuality and conformity in fashion, and communicate identity and character in the arts. Exploring the global mash-up of fashion, dress, culture, production, and sustainability-including life in a post-pandemic world-The Visible Self offers a powerful understanding of the way we look and how we look at others. New to this Edition: - Focus on the body as the organizing principle in the study of dress including additional insight on fashion and using this concept to define the target customer - Investigation of current issues such as race and the post-pandemic world - Updated readings, at the end of each chapter, with discussion questions that directly connect chapter concepts to reading content - Activities that apply chapter concepts to design, product development, merchandising, and everyday life STUDIO Features Include: - Links to third party video clips to help visualize how dress is used to identify the self - Self-assessment quizzes to test yourself on what you have just read - Flashcards of key terms and concepts covered in the book Instructor Resources - Instructor's Guide to help incorporate the text into your classroom - Test Bank to highly key concepts and test student comprehension on those concepts - PowerPoint Slides for every chapter