In doing so the contributors hope to prompt readers to reconsider the place of dress in the interpretation of American culture. The casual reader of this book of essays may be surprised to learn that it has little to do with different styles of clothing or the vagaries of fashion. The authors consider how Americans historically have been challenged by the human landscape, physical environment and social institutions to alter their clothing behavior. They are not trying to determine what is distinctively American about our dress. Rather, they demonstrate that the clothing behavior of Americans, in adapting to these new situations, was part of their unique experience and that it was linked to their cultural values, attitudes and ideals.
Clothing is viewed as a mediating factor in the American experience.
The authors of these essays reveal the politics, or power, of dress, especially in its function as a symbol of American ideals, and examine changes in clothing behavior which occurred as Americans faced a variety of new experiences. Dress in American Culture complements the editors' previous volume, Dress and Popular Culture , published by Popular Press in 1991.