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When Adorned in Dreams was first published in 1985, Angela Carter described the book as "the best I have read on the subject, bar none." From haute couture to haberdashery, "deviant" dress to Dior, Elizabeth Wilson traces the social and cultural history of fashion and its complex relationship to modernity. She also discusses fashion's vociferous opponents, from the "dress reform" movement to certain strands of feminism. Wilson delights in the power of fashion to mark out identity or subvert it. This brand new edition of her book follows recent developments to bring the story of fashionable dress up to date, exploring the grunge look inspired by bands like Nirvana, the "boho chic" of the mid 90's, retro-dressing, and the meanings of dress from the veil to soccer player David Beckham's pink-varnished toenails..
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For thousands of years humans have adorned themselves. Adornment figures among the constellation of traits that signify the arrival of modern human behavior in the archaeological record. Wherever they ventured, wherever they lived, people have made art and adornments to accompany them in life and death.

In this book, artist William Morris celebrates this ancient and universal human quality and continues his exploration of the themes of origin and myth that permeate all his work. At first glance, these glass sculptures signal a striking departure from Morris's oeuvre of canopic jars, animal vessels, assorted artifacts, and imaginative burial installations. Here Morris depicts the people only imagined before. He has put flesh on the bones, and covered the bodies with costumes, jewelry, headdresses, and tattoos. These figures spring forth full of vibrant life in the present, rather than recalling a distant past. The faces and artifacts evoke and sometimes blend elements of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas, tracing the global migrations of distant ancestors. Morris aims less for realism than for an essence of ethnicity.

For more than 20 years, in a career that has brought Morris to the forefront of the modern Studio Glass movement, he has perfected a repertoire of techniques that virtually no other American glass artist can equal..
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Karen LaMonte produces life-size dresses in glass, dividing her time between New York City and Prague. She has developed a meticulous glass casting technique that involves making two molds -- one from an actual body that shapes the interior of the sculpture, the second from a garment, which shapes the exterior -- and casting them together in one shell. The resulting dress reveals traces of the figure that once wore it -- the curve of a breast, the slope of a back, the indentation of a navel. The ghostly translucent forms evoke the ephemeral quality of our corporal selves and the fragility of the human condition. LaMonte's sculptures are adorned, but they have a dual, both eerie and erotic, appearance as nudes. Undeniably sensual and beautiful, her pearlescent long gowns project ideals of appearance and wealth promoted by haute couture, while questioning the psychological and social implications of the way we dress.

This volume illustrates her dresses as well as installations of mirrors cast in glass and works in other media, incorporating photography and printmaking..
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This digital document is an article from Naval War College Review, published by Thomson Gale on June 22, 2005. The length of the article is 4484 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Has the red cross-adorned hospital ship become obsolete?(RESEARCH & DEBATE)
Author: Arthur M. Smith
Publication:Naval War College Review (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 22, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 58 Issue: 3 Page: 121(11)

Distributed by Thomson Gale.
Price: $9.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]