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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
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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.

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

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