Cover image - The Devil's Cloth: A History of Stripes

The Devil’s Cloth: A History of Stripes

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To stripe a surface serves to distinguish it, to point it out, to oppose it or associate it with another surface, and thus to classify it, to keep an eye on it, to verify it, even to censor it.
Throughout the ages, the stripe has made its mark in mysterious ways. From prisoners’ uniforms to tailored suits, a street sign to a set of sheets, Pablo Picasso to Saint Joseph, stripes have always made a bold statement. But the boundary that separates the good stripe from the bad is often blurred. Why, for instance, were stripes associated with the devil during the Middle Ages? How did stripes come to symbolize freedom and unity after the American and French revolutions? When did the stripe become a standard in men’s fashion?
“In the stripe,” writes author Michel Pastoureau, “there is something that resists enclosure within systems.” So before putting on that necktie or waving your country’s flag, look to The Devil’s Cloth for a colorful history of the stripe in all its variety, controversy, and connotation.
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$6.50

Description

Very light shelf wear. Light underlining (fewer than a dozen pages). In VG- condition.

Written by Michel Pastoureau and illustrated by Jody Gladding

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Additional information

Weight 9 oz
book-author

Translator

Jody Gladding
Condition

Format

Softcover

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