Acts of Undressing Politics, Eroticism, and Discarded Clothing

The act of undressing has a multitude of meanings, which vary dramatically when this commonly private gesture is presented for public consumption. This ground-breaking book explores the significance of undressing in various cultural and social contexts.

As we are increasingly obsessed with dress choices as signifiers of who we are and how we feel, an investigation into what happens as we remove our clothes has never been more pertinent. Exploring three main issues - politics, tease, and clothes without bodies - Acts of Undressing discusses these key themes through an in-depth and eclectic mix of case studies including flashing at Mardi Gras, the World Burlesque Games, and 'shoefiti' used by gangs to mark territories.

Building on leading theories of dress and the body, from academics including Roland Barthes and Mario Perniolato, Ruth Barcan and Erving Goffman, Acts of Undressing is essential reading for students of fashion, sociology, anthropology, visual culture, and related subjects.

Part 1: Politics, Slavery and the Savage
- The Meanings of Imposed Nudity
- Make Love, Not War: The Revolutionary Body
- Exposure as Sport: Streaking, Mooning and Flashing

Part 2: Eroticism
- 'Where the Garment Gapes': The Eroticism of Intermittence
- Narrative Undressing: Neo-burlesque and Storytelling through Ttriptease
- The Sounds of Undressing

Part 3: Clothes without Bodies
- Shoes without Feet: Footwear Memorials
- 'Doing a Reggie Perrin': Suicide, Pseudocide, and the Mystery of Clothes Abandoned on Beaches
- Abandoned Clothes as Territorial Markers

Bibliography
Index

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