The Islamic dress code has been forcibly imposed on the women in Sudan, since 1983, and many feminists researchers have criticized the practices of the veil as a tool to oppress women. This study aimed to explore a group of Sudanese women, currently living in South Africa, experiences and perceptions of the veil, whether the veil is a religious dress code or a tool that has been used to exercise inequality.

The primary purpose of this research was to examine the theory of divestment, or the act of discarding clothes that no longer fit the current body, by investigating the relationships between divestment practices and psychological factors (body image and self-esteem). The secondary purpose was to examine divestment practices among different demographic groups (age and gender). A combination of previously created measures was used to measure divestment practices (Bye & McKinney, 2007), self-esteem (Rosenberg, 1965), and body image (Cash & Pruzinsky, 1990). Demographic characteristics were determined using basic questions regarding those traits. The results of the study indicated that the strongest predictors of divestment were being younger (β=.129, p=.004), subjective weight (β=.171, p=.002), and body areas satisfaction (β=-173., p=.015). Gender (β=.081, p=.062), though not significant in the current model, was approaching significance, with females being more predictive of divestment than males. / Department of Family and Consumer Sciences

No description available.

The purposes of this study were to investigate attitudes toward apparel shopping and apparel shopping behavior of a selected group of working women in the Dallas, Texas, area. The study also examined relationships of occupation, education, age and marital status to apparel shopping attitudes and behavior. The study concluded that working women enjoy shopping for apparel but do encounter certain frustrations. Working women shop for apparel every few weeks or more and most often purchase apparel in department stores. The majority use charge accounts and often purchase apparel at reduced prices. Chi square analysis revealed few significant relationships between attitudes toward apparel shopping and apparel shopping behavior and the demographic variables of occupation, education, age and marital status.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Orientador: João Eduardo Guarnetti dos Santos / Co-orientador: Abílio Garcia dos Santos Filho / Co-orientador: Ana Paula Celso de Miranda / Banca: Luis Carlos Paschoarelli / Banca: Paulo Kawauchi / Banca: José Carlos Plácido da Silva / Banca: Cristina do Carmo Lucio / Resumo: A concepção e disponibilização de artefatos com propriedades ou atributos ergonômicos incorporados, como vestimentas de proteção, a partir dos princípios do ergodesign podem servir como instrumento para aumento de produtividade, redução dos incidentes e acidentes de trabalho e melhoria da qualidade de vida dos trabalhadores envolvido na atividade. Esta investigação de tese é pautada nos princípios do Ergonomia e Design, com vistas a colaborar para o acesso e disseminação das variáveis concernentes a um confortável vestuário laboral para profissionais do setor de petróleo e gás brasileiro. Interfaces vestíveis desenvolvidas sem o atendimento aos requisitos de usabilidade levam a um desempenho deficiente, além de uma redução da qualidade da interação sujeito e vestimenta. De forma que, para condução da investigação da tese, estruturou-se a pesquisa dividida em quatro fases: um levantamento bibliográfico, que apontou a fragilidade e pouca produção tipicamente nacional sobre o assunto; uma análise documental, que reuniu a legislação e normas brasileiras vigentes identificando certa "omissão" ao apresentar lacunas na efetiva prevenção de incidentes e acidentes no âmbito laboral; uma avaliação heurística, apontando fragilidades na usabilidade do sistema nacional de gerenciamento de Equipamentos de Proteção Individual - EPI; e uma consulta a stakeholders, que analisou o discurso das instituições e os agentes responsáveis pela regulação dos vestuários de proteção, alvo desta investigação e apontou certas incongruências / Abstract: The design and deployment of artifacts with incorporated ergonomic properties or atributes, such as protective clothing, from ergodesign principles can serve as a tool to increase productivity, reduce incidents and accidents and improving the quality of life of workers involved in activity. This thesis is based on the principles of Ergonomics and Design, with a view to contributing to the access and dissemination of variables concering a comfortable work clothing for professionals in the oil and gas Brazilian. Wearable interfaces developed without attention to usability requirements lead to poor performance, and a reduction in the quality of the interaction between the subjects and their clothing. Therefore, that, for conducting this research thesis was structured four phases: a literature review, which showed the fragility and low domestic production on the theme. Documentary analysis, which brought together the current legislation and Brazilian standards indentifying certain "omission" when presented the gaps in effective prevention of incidents and accidents in the workplace. A heuristic evaluation, pointing out weaknesses in the usability of the National System of Management Personal Protective Equipment - PPE and a consultation of stakeholders, when analysis the speech of the institutions and agents responsible for regulating the protective clothing, target of this investigation, and pointed out certain inconsistencies / Doutor

Review of Encyclopedia of National Dress : Traditional Clothing Around the World. Jill Condra. 2013. 2v, 9780313376368, $189.00

The influence of an individual's dress practices on his/her sense of self has been studied for many years. Courses such as the Dress and Humanity course at Utah State University have been developed to educate students on the impact of dress on society. In this study, students in the Dress and Humanity course were given a pre-course and post-course survey to determine if self-perceptions related to dress practices underwent a change over the duration of the semester. Significant differences were found in the categories of body image, evaluating self-esteem, and communication of self to others. A relationship was found between survey responses and gender, degree of importance of clothing purchases, and how much money participants spent in the 365 days previous to the pre-course survey.

Dress and appearance constitute the visual realm in the dialectic of identity construction and are powerful communicators in this process, since dress and appearance are the symbolic means by which we locate ourselves and others through interaction within social contexts. Dress is used to differentiate and create boundaries for group belonging and exclusion, and in the uniform has been understood to have a capacity to suppress individuality and to identify the wearer with objectives beyond the self. Adolescence is a time of intense identity work and in New Zealand coincides with secondary schooling during which school uniforms are usually worn. Is freedom in dress necessary for development of personal identity? The effects of same-dressing on identity development in adolescence were investigated in the context of the history, practice, and meanings of school uniform in New Zealand secondary schools. This was investigated through a nationwide survey, analysis of selected school photographs and records, interviews with students, review of legal and bureaucratic structures supporting the practice, and review of the literature of school uniforms, and education and social history of New Zealand. A combination of qualitative and quantitative methods contributed to analysis of both dress practices in wider New Zealand contexts, and more personal use of dress in the formation of personal identity. Analysis of school uniforms as mechanisms of power, constituting both the student and the self, drew on symbolic interactionist theory and on Foucault�s later interpretations of power, while also linking material culture and social structures. New Zealand has a strong and continuing tradition of school uniform in secondary schools, yet this practice is characterised by change, variety, and differences, challenging the sameness which uniforms are supposed to embody. Meanings and functions of uniforms have changed considerably over the twentieth century, evolving through extreme and diverse expressions of the expectations of social, political, and education systems towards their young people, and mediated in turn by students themselves. While school uniforms both manifest and mediate the power of the school over the bodies of children, the power embodied in uniforms is not always and only a repressive power, but is also a generative, productive power. Students described uniforms as a form of shelter and protection, embodying belonging and participation in the school and a projected future of success and engagement in adult society and work. Uniforms also maintained a breadth of possibilities consistent with a fluid class system and egalitarian ideals of New Zealand society. While students believed self-expression essential for the formation of a self, they believed this need could be met through the use of minor differences in uniforms, while uniforms allowed them to retain the advantages of group belonging. Schools allowing some personal expression effectively strengthened the sense of belonging and participation, by maintaining the individual in positive relation to the group. The interaction that creates a self consists in symbols, involving meanings, appearances, and communication: differences and similarities from part of these complex interactions.

Fashion scholarship has prospered since the 1980s. Yet in spite of the stimulating research in this field, principally in the domain of design, gender, media and cultural studies, only a handful of scholars have written about fashion�s relationship with the artworld. This, inspite of the artworld increasingly drawing upon the idiom of fashion - �the new�, �the now� and hype, and the evolvement of sartorial fashion into an exciting new artistic medium as the result of an increasingly experimental attitude towards design. This thesis considers the idiom of fashion as part of art-making, and how we might critically approach fashion design as a visual arts practice. The relationship between fashion and the artworld is explored using the ideas of intersection, interplay and collusion. In utilising these ideas to explore the rapport between fashion and the artworld the multi-faceted nature of fashion�s relationship with the artworld, the slippages between the commercial and creative imperatives of fashion, are brought to the surface. This project grew out of a �debate� emerging in the 1980s and 1990s and occurring in articles and exhibitions which sought to identify and elaborate on a closer rapport between fashion and art. Based on this �debate� six sites of connection are considered, beginning with a discussion on writing about fashion from a visual arts perspective, and where a range of proponents and proposals are considered. The thesis then shifts to an analysis of the February 1982 special issue of Artforum which featured a garment designed by Issey Miyake on its cover. This is followed by an exploration of the value attached to fashion in the artworld. The fashion designer�s self-construction as a visual artist is the subject of the next chapter, followed by a look at the emergence of Conceptual Couture - ideas-based fashion. The final chapter considers fashion in the exhibition environment.