Dress, body, culture

"This is the first academic study of sneakers and the subculture that surrounds them. Since the 1980s, members of American sneaker subcultures, popularly known as "sneakerheads" or "sneakerholics", have created a distinctive identity for themselves, while sneaker manufacturers such as Reebok, Puma and Nike have become global fashion brands. How have sneakers come to gain this status and what makes them attractive? In what ways are sneaker subcultures bound up with gender identity and why are sneakerholics mostly men? Based on the author's own ethnographic fieldwork in New York, where sneaker subculture is said to have originated, this unique study traces the transformation of sneakers from sportswear to fashion symbol. Sneakers explores the obsessions and idiosyncrasies surrounding the sneaker phenomenon, from competitive subcultures to sneaker painting and artwork. It is a valuable contribution to the growing study of footwear in fashion studies and will appeal to students of fashion theory, gender studies, sociology and popular culture"--.

Discusses the history of American fashion throughout the twentieth century, and describes how class, music, war, the space race, movies, television, sports, and more have influenced the American style.

A study of veiling in contemporary Arab culture, arguing that the practice is about more than modesty and seculsion, but also communicates exclusivity of rank, nuances in kinship status and behavior, power and autonomy, and resistance.