Fashioning Politics and Protests: New Visual Cultures of Feminism in the United States

Through meticulous examinations, this book analyzes how women update their identities and articulate their feelings through clothing and art in protests, politics in the United States in the 20th century. Topics explored include the suffragists and their impact on contemporary art, the significance of the red dress in both The Handmaid’s Tale and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women movement, the impact of the Miss America protests, the rising popularity of the pantsuit for women, the recent dominance of the pussyhat, and the way that feminist slogans are disseminated on t-shirts. Movements discussed include craftivism, hashtag culture, feminism, the CROWN act, Pantsuit Nation, socially-committed stores, and more. Interdisciplinary and intersectional at its core, addressing numerous areas, including fashion, sociology, visual culture, art history, feminism, and popular culture; Fashioning Politics and Protests uncovers how women continue to use visual means, exploredvia their clothing, to change the world.

Emily L. Newman is Associate Professor of Art History at Texas A&M University-Commerce, USA. Her research concerns intersections of modern and contemporary art history, popular culture, fashion, and the female body exemplified by her latest book, Female Body Image in Contemporary Art: Dieting, Eating Disorders, Self-Harm, and Fatness (2018).