Pazazz examines the complex meanings of white clothing throughout history. Delicate and impractical, white cloth in the past was difficult to obtain, as well as to keep clean. It is a symbol of purity but also of class superiority, privilege, and the display of leisure. It represents the menace of the Ku Klux Klan, but also the transition of a bride to the married state. It can be the appropriate dress for mourning and shrouds. White lace is ethereal; straitjackets are tough stuff. White clothing has been a marker of innocence and simplicity for women, but also of calculated, high-maintenance fashion. And for men, white can be evidence of power. But for many, white is a startling absence of colour, the epitome of elegance. |