Bloomsbury Fashioning Brazil: Globalization and the Representation of Brazilian Dress in National Geographic (Dress and Fashion Research)

Examining the dynamics between subject, photographer and viewer, Fashioning Brazil analyses how Brazilians have appropriated and reinterpreted clothing influences from local and global cultures. Exploring the various ways in which Brazil has been fashioned by the pioneering scientific and educational magazine, National Geographic, the book encourages us to look beyond simplistic representations of exotic difference. Instead, it brings to light an extensive history of self-fashioning within Brazil, which has emerged through cross-cultural contact, slavery, and immigration. Providing an in-depth examination of Brazilian dress and fashion practices as represented by the quasi-ethnographic gaze of National Geographic and National Geographic Brazil (the Portuguese language edition of the magazine, established in 2000), the book unpacks a series of case studies. Taking us from body paint to Lycra, via loincloths and bikinis, Kutesko frames her analysis within the historical, cultural, and political context of Latin American interactions with the United States. Exploring how dress can be used to manipulate identity and disrupt expectations, Fashioning Brazil examines readers' sensory engagements with an iconic magazine, and sheds new light on key debates concerning global dress and fashion. List of Illustrations 1. Introduction: Fashioning Brazil and Brazilian Self-Fashioning 2. Anthropophagy: the first hundred years of Brazilian Dress in National Geographic 3. Recycled Aesthetics: Globalization and the Representation of Brazilian Dress in National Geographic since 1988 4. Space In-Between: Brazilian Fashion in National Geographic since 2001 5. Misplaced Ideas: Brazilian dress as reflected in the first ten years of National Geographic Brasil 6. Mundialization: Brazilian dress in National Geographic Brasil, August 2013 Afterword Notes Bibliography Index