Frances Solá-Santiago asked me and Sarah Scaturro to comment on Kim Kardashian’s wearing of Marilyn Monroe’s famed Jean Louis dress from 1962 for the 2022 Met Gala. For both Scaturro …
Read more “Ripley’s Says There Was No Damage To Kim Kardashian’s Met Gala Dress. Still, Experts Think That It Was A Bad Idea”
Frances Solá-Santiago interviewed me for an article on Refinery29 about the history of the so-called Panama Hat: The “Panama hat” — characterized by a circular shape, thick band, and straw …
Read more “Why The Panama Hat Needs A Rebranding”
The constant comparison of fashion in the Spanish American colonies with their European counterparts has resulted in a simplified narration of a more complex phenomenon that responds to the necessities, …
Read more “Bodies, fashion, and Gender in the Viceroyalty of New Granada: The Pollera and the Faldellín”
The sombrero de paja toquilla (toquilla straw hat) is hand-woven from the boiled, dried, and bleached fibers of toquilla (carludovica palmata), which comes from a palm tree native to the Pacific coast …
Read more “Objects That Matter: Sombrero de paja toquilla”
Bodily adornment was an important site for the construction and negotiation of identities in the early modern Spanish world. It became particularly important in the eighteenth century, as the Spanish …
Read more ““People of Fashion Dress Ostentatiously”: Unpacking Luxury in Eighteenth-Century Spanish America”
A ch’uspa (in Quechua) or huallqepo (in Aymara) is a bag used in the Andes to carry dried coca leaves since at least the beginning of the first millennium CE. …
Read more “Objects That Matter: Ch’uspa”
Cassidy Zachary interviewed me for Dressed: The History of Fashion. This is the second part of the interview, where we talked about the sartorial practices and symbolisms in Spain’s “Imperio …
Read more “Spain’s Empire of Fashion, Part II. In Dressed: The History of Fashion”
Cassidy Zachary interviewed me for Dressed: The History of Fashion. This is the first of two episodes that resulted from that interview, where we talked about the sartorial practices and …
Read more “Spain’s Empire of Fashion, Part I. In Dressed: The History of Fashion”
The sarape (or zarape) is an overgarment worn traditionally by men in rural areas throughout Mexico. It is often made of two matching rectangular panels, woven independently in two loom widths with a …
Read more “Objects That Matter: Sarape”
The huipil is a blouse-like garment worn by women in Mesoamerica since at least 2,000 years ago [1]. The name huipil derives from the Nahuatl word “huipilli,” used by the …
Read more “Objects That Matter: Huipil”