Background Circle Background Circle
Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity

Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity

Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity
Price: $105.25
(as of Jul 26, 2021 22:00:16 UTC – Details)


Slaves to Fashion is a pioneering cultural history of the black dandy, from his emergence in Enlightenment England to his contemporary incarnations in the cosmopolitan art worlds of London and New York. It is populated by sartorial impresarios such as Julius Soubise, a freed slave who sometimes wore diamond-buckled, red-heeled shoes as he circulated through the social scene of eighteenth-century London, and Yinka Shonibare, a prominent Afro-British artist who not only styles himself as a fop but also creates ironic commentaries on black dandyism in his work. Interpreting performances and representations of black dandyism in particular cultural settings and literary and visual texts, Monica L. Miller emphasizes the importance of sartorial style to black identity formation in the Atlantic diaspora.

Dandyism was initially imposed on black men in eighteenth-century England, as the Atlantic slave trade and an emerging culture of conspicuous consumption generated a vogue in dandified black servants. “Luxury slaves” tweaked and reworked their uniforms, and were soon known for their sartorial novelty and sometimes flamboyant personalities. Tracing the history of the black dandy forward to contemporary celebrity incarnations such as Andre 3000 and Sean Combs, Miller explains how black people became arbiters of style and how they have historically used the dandy’s signature tools—clothing, gesture, and wit—to break down limiting identity markers and propose new ways of fashioning political and social possibility in the black Atlantic world. With an aplomb worthy of her iconographic subject, she considers the black dandy in relation to nineteenth-century American literature and drama, W. E. B. Du Bois’s reflections on black masculinity and cultural nationalism, the modernist aesthetics of the Harlem Renaissance, and representations of black cosmopolitanism in contemporary visual art.

Publisher‏:‎Duke University Press Books; Illustrated edition (October 8, 2009)
Language‏:‎English
Hardcover‏:‎408 pages
ISBN-10‏:‎0822345854
ISBN-13‏:‎978-0822345855
Item Weight‏:‎1.69 pounds
Dimensions‏:‎6.2 x 1.3 x 9.3 inches

Related Posts
I Promise
I Promise

Price: $105.25(as of Jul 26, 2021 22:00:16 UTC - Details) An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller! An Instant Indie Bestseller! *An Amazon Best Book Read more

Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man
Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man

Price: $105.25(as of Jul 26, 2021 22:00:16 UTC - Details) INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERAn urgent primer on race and racism, from the Read more

Full, Full, Full of Love
Full, Full, Full of Love

Price: $105.25(as of Jul 26, 2021 22:00:16 UTC - Details) Warm illustrations spice up this rhythmical ode to the joys of family and Read more

The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl
The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl

Price: $105.25(as of Jul 26, 2021 22:00:16 UTC - Details) In the best-selling tradition of Sloan Crosley's I Was Told There'd Be Cake Read more

Lola at the Library (Lola Reads)
Lola at the Library (Lola Reads)

Price: $105.25(as of Jul 26, 2021 22:00:16 UTC - Details) Learn about the library, checking out books, and story time with Lola.  Every Read more

Deacon King Kong: A Novel
Deacon King Kong: A Novel

Price: $105.25(as of Jul 26, 2021 22:00:16 UTC - Details) One of Barack Obama's "Favorite Books of the Year"Oprah's Book Club PickNamed one Read more

Dancing in the Wings
Dancing in the Wings

Price: $105.25(as of Jul 26, 2021 22:00:16 UTC - Details) Sassy is a long-legged girl who always has something to say. She wants Read more

Black People Invented Everything: The Deep History of Indigenous Creativity
Black People Invented Everything: The Deep History of Indigenous Creativity

Price: $105.25(as of Jul 26, 2021 22:00:16 UTC - Details) Who invented the traffic light? What about transportation itself? Farming? Art? Modern chemistry? Read more

Hair Love
Hair Love

Price: $105.25(as of Jul 26, 2021 22:00:16 UTC - Details) "I love that Hair Love is highlighting the relationship between a Black father Read more

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Price: $105.25(as of Jul 26, 2021 22:00:16 UTC - Details) Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as Read more

I Am Enough
I Am Enough

Price: $105.25(as of Jul 26, 2021 22:00:16 UTC - Details) A #1 New York Times bestseller and Goodreads Choice Awards picture book winner! This is Read more

Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves
Well-Read Black Girl: Finding Our Stories, Discovering Ourselves

Price: $105.25(as of Jul 26, 2021 22:00:16 UTC - Details) NOMINATED FOR AN NAACP IMAGE AWARD • An inspiring collection of essays by black Read more

Post Tags :
Prev Post

Next Post