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Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity by Monica L. Miller Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2009. Xiii+390 pp., 42 b/w illustrations, bibliography, index. $24.95 paper, $89.95 cloth
reviewed by Steeve O. Buckridge
In this fascinating and well-researched text, Monica Miller has produced an excellent comprehensive study of the black dandy in the African Diaspora, from his emergence in eighteenth century England to his contemporary celebritystatus as reflected in popular figures such as Andre 3000 and Sean Combs. Miller, an English professor at Barnard College, explains thai this study "is the story of how and why black people became arbiters of style and how they use clothing and dress to define their identity in difierent and changing political and cultural contexts" (p. 1). Consequently, black people known tor "stylin' out" who were once slaves to fashion have made fashion their slave.
On several levels, the author examines the social meaning of fashion in the black community, the impact of style as a visual language, and black dandyism as expressive culture and performance art. 'flie principal subject is the black dandy who uses sartorial style and flamboyance to construct a vivid image of himself as distinguished and dignified. Over lhe centuries, the dandy's stylishness and fashion sense has provoked, satirized, fascinated, subverted, and even resisted white dominance while simultaneously blurring racial and sexual boundaries. This cultural study investigates the process by which the dandy is able to construct and transform his image. Miller states that "my book narrates the process in terms of how black identity has been and continues to be stylized" (p. 5). She meticulously examines the...