num_pages: 336
description: Wilson reports the findings of her fashion road trip across the United States a journey that took three years and ranges across the various economic belt regions of America: the Cotton Rust Bible Sun Frost Corn and Gun Belts. Acting as a kind of fashion anthropologist she documents and decodes the sartorial sensibilities of Americans across the country. Our fashion choices she argues contain a riot of visual cues that tell everyone instantly who we are where we came from where we feel we belong what we want where we are going and how we expect to be treated when we get there. With this philosophy in hand she tackles and unpacks the meaning behind the uniforms of Washington DC politicians and their wives the costumes of Kentucky Derby spectators the attractive draw of the cowboy hat in Wyoming and what she terms the stealth wealth of distressed clothing in Brooklyn.In this smart and rollicking book Wilson illustrates how every closet is a declaration of the owners politics sexuality class education hopes and dreams. With her signature wit and utterly irreverent humor Wilson proves that by donning our daily costume we create our future selves for good or ill. Indeed: your fate hangs in your closet. Dress wisely.
language: English
title: Fear and Clothing: Unbuckling American Style
publisher: W. W. Norton & Company