Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T11:33:04.299Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

8 - Fashioning Demonstrative Displays

from Part III - Fashionable Transformations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2023

Karen Tranberg Hansen
Affiliation:
Northwestern University, Illinois
Get access

Summary

Women apply their skills in clothing competence when acquiring clothing in order to produce dressed body displays to make heads turn. The desire for uniqueness is evident in their shopping practice for new and secondhand clothing as well as in visits to tailors. The cultivation of appearance is most dramatically evident in specific performance situations such as all-female kitchen parties (bridal showers) with demonstrative display of women’s dressed bodies in chitenge fashions. A significant dimension of owning a chitenge outfit is demonstrating it for others to see. At kitchen parties, women’s evaluation of and commentary on heterosexual behavior extends into preoccupations with stylish appearance and dress. The focus is on competitive display in sexually inflected dances, songs, presents, and clothes, as well as the status politics that take place between the participants.

Type
Chapter
Information
Dress Cultures in Zambia
Interwoven Histories, Global Exchanges, and Everyday Life
, pp. 140 - 156
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×