Lycra: How a Fiber Shaped America

ISBN-13: 9780415804363 / Angielski / Twarda / 2011 / 192 str.

KAORI O'CONNOR

Opis

'Lycra' describes the development of a specific fabric, but in the process provides students with rare insights into U.S. corporate history, the changing image of women in America and how a seemingly doomed product came to occupy a position never imagined by its inventors.

Recenzje

"[O'Connor] offers an intriguing, well-written study about the development of Lycra....This well-researched study draws on insights derived from ethnographic and archival evidence to describe the complex history of this specific fiber, including technology, science, corporate history, and branding and marketing strategies employed to make Lycra a successful product found in many garments. Readers interested in women's studies will appreciate the connection between this popular fiber and the changing view of women in America, including issues of gender, sexuality, aging, identity, and body image. This fascinating work will appeal to a wide range of interests as it touches on the dynamics between mass-produced commodities and the political, economic, and cultural factors that drive the production and consumption of 'stuff.' Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduate through professional readers."—CHOICE, C. B. Cannon, Savannah College of Art and Design, USA

Spis treści

1. Lycra, the Ethnographic Moment and the Anthropology of Stuff  2. Dupont: Culture, Kinship and Myth  3. Dupont’s Family of Fibers and the Birth of Lycra  4. Launching Lycra  5. Lycra, Aerobics and the Rise of the Legging  6. Another Ethnographic Moment