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FashioNordic : Folk costume as performance of genealogy and place

Gradén, Lizette LU (2014) In Journal of Folklore Research 51(3). p.337-388
Abstract

This article elaborates on the embodiment of heritage via dressing practices in several rural and urban Nordic communities in the United States. Getting dressed is a shared human practice that we engage in and repeat most days, and for special occasions, traditional dress, or folk costume, comes into particular focus. I approach dressing in folk costume as a “situated embodied practice,” a mode of performance that exposes the way value judgments of the body are informed by societal notions of dress, with body and dress understood as socially constructed entities that shape each other. Based on attention to an embodied heritage that women create, make, view, discuss, and wear, I suggest that folk costumes from Sweden and its neighboring... (More)

This article elaborates on the embodiment of heritage via dressing practices in several rural and urban Nordic communities in the United States. Getting dressed is a shared human practice that we engage in and repeat most days, and for special occasions, traditional dress, or folk costume, comes into particular focus. I approach dressing in folk costume as a “situated embodied practice,” a mode of performance that exposes the way value judgments of the body are informed by societal notions of dress, with body and dress understood as socially constructed entities that shape each other. Based on attention to an embodied heritage that women create, make, view, discuss, and wear, I suggest that folk costumes from Sweden and its neighboring countries are increasingly individualized in the United States; that traditional dress is in fashion; and that garments, patterns, materials, and designs are used to illustrate complex family trees, places of belonging, and key experiences in life.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Journal of Folklore Research
volume
51
issue
3
pages
52 pages
publisher
Indiana University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:84923131878
ISSN
0737-7037
DOI
10.2979/jfolkrese.51.3.337
language
English
LU publication?
no
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2014 Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology, Indiana University.
id
ee773278-b3f3-4dce-b4d1-e4dfb09a1b45
date added to LUP
2025-10-25 10:37:01
date last changed
2025-11-05 16:27:35
@article{ee773278-b3f3-4dce-b4d1-e4dfb09a1b45,
  abstract     = {{<p>This article elaborates on the embodiment of heritage via dressing practices in several rural and urban Nordic communities in the United States. Getting dressed is a shared human practice that we engage in and repeat most days, and for special occasions, traditional dress, or folk costume, comes into particular focus. I approach dressing in folk costume as a “situated embodied practice,” a mode of performance that exposes the way value judgments of the body are informed by societal notions of dress, with body and dress understood as socially constructed entities that shape each other. Based on attention to an embodied heritage that women create, make, view, discuss, and wear, I suggest that folk costumes from Sweden and its neighboring countries are increasingly individualized in the United States; that traditional dress is in fashion; and that garments, patterns, materials, and designs are used to illustrate complex family trees, places of belonging, and key experiences in life.</p>}},
  author       = {{Gradén, Lizette}},
  issn         = {{0737-7037}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{09}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{337--388}},
  publisher    = {{Indiana University Press}},
  series       = {{Journal of Folklore Research}},
  title        = {{FashioNordic : Folk costume as performance of genealogy and place}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.2979/jfolkrese.51.3.337}},
  doi          = {{10.2979/jfolkrese.51.3.337}},
  volume       = {{51}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}