Costume

"Costume: Performing Identities through Dress is revelatory. . . . Shukla shares research across three continents . . . and within several contexts to show how what we wear defines us on personal and community levels. . . . Costume is a wide-ranging book bringing attention to clothing as part of festivals and folk heritage events, pop culture conventions and dramatic performances."

~Nuvo

"Although her book is based on scholarly research, Shukla's engaging writing style and rich illustrations make for a highly accessible and enduring work. . . . Highly recommended."

~Choice

"This collection of case studies is well worth a read for anyone interested in the physical, psychological, communal, and transformative power of costume."

~Worn Through

"In drawing together these diverse studies and revealing the structural parallels between the behaviours underlying them, she has contributed to the study and interpretation of dress and costume, her ethnographic methodology throughout facilitating an emphasis on shared humanity."

~The Costume Society

"Written in straightforward and enjoyable prose, this text provides a valuable resource both for teachers of material culture and costume researchers. Shukla highlights costume as a method for both socio-cultural and personal expression through vivid portraits of individuals. Visual, accessible, and conscientiously attentive to the people featured, Costume is a broad and thorough examination of how a heightened form of dress indicates to observers a rich and heightened version of self."

~Western Folklore

"Scholars have discussed the meaning of the term 'costume,' but few have analyzed why people spend so much time and effort to pretend to be someone else or to present an alternate version of themselves through dress. . . . Shukla offers a fresh perspective on dress and makes a valuable contribution to scholarship."

~Linda Welters, editor of The Fashion Reader

"Shukla's penetrating analysis of costume adds a much-needed dimension to the study of dress. She draws from the deep well of her own field research on three continents to present a convincing argument about costume as elective identity, with color illustrations as a special bonus."

~Joanne B. Eicher, Editor-in-Chief, Encyclopedia of World Dress and Costume

"In this era of new media technologies used in the service of identity construction, it is fascinating to note the extent to which people employ costume—extraordinary and purposefully creative dress—to explore different, perhaps deeper, expressions of themselves. Pravina Shukla draws on rich ethnographic material from research in the United States, Sweden, and Brazil to capture the words, actions, and appearances of individuals who are passionate and extremely articulate about the costumes they make, wear, and observe."

~Carol Hendrickson, Marlboro College