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Jacket Description/Flap:
What do prostitutes, referees, and Renaissance clowns have in common? They all
wear stripes, and Michel Pastoureau tells us why.
The Devil's Cloth begins with a medieval scandal. When the first Carmelites arrived in France from the Holy Land, the religious order required its members to wear striped habits, prompting turmoil and denunciations in the West that lasted fifty years until the order was forced to accept a quiet, solid color. The medieval eye found any surface in which a background could not be distinguished from a foreground disturbing. Thus striped clothing was relegated to those on the margins or outside the social order -- jugglers and prostitutes, for example -- and in medieval paintings the devil himself is often depicted wearing stripes. The West has long continued to dress its slaves and servants, its crew members and convicts in stripes.
But in the last two centuries, stripes have also taken on new, positive meanings, connoting freedom, youth, playfulness, and pleasure. Witness the revolutionary stripes on the French and United States flags. In a wide-ranging discussion that touches on zebras, gangsters, awnings, and pajamas, augmented by illustrative plates, the author shows us how stripes have become chic, and even, in the case of bankers' pinstripes, a symbol of taste and status.
Michel Pastoureau's lively study of stripes offers a unique and engaging
perspective on the evolution of fashion, taste, and visual codes in Western
culture.
Jacket Description/Back:
Discover why most national flags have stripes, the difference between the
"aristocratic stripe" and the "peasant stripe", the connection between the
stripe and music, and why prisoners wear black and white stripes.
"The stripe doesn't wait, doesn't stand still. It is in perpetual motion (that's why it has always fascinated artists: painters, photographers, filmmakers), animates all it touches, endlessly forges ahead, as though driven by the wind".
-- from The Devil's Cloth
Review Quotes:
"Pastoureau... is eminently qualified to explore the stripe's peculiar
historical trajectory.... "The Devil's Cloth" gets to the heart of matters like
the way we perceive color and pattern, and speculates interestingly on whether
these perceptions derive from nature or nurture.... this playful but learned
book will doubtless have an influence." -- Angeline Goreau, "The New York Times
Book Review"
Review Quotes:
"[A] unique little book." -- "Forbes FYI"
Review Quotes:
"[An] intriguing little book." -- "Library Journal"
Review Quotes:
" "The Devil's Cloth" kept this reader at the edge of her seat." -- "Seattle
Times"
Review Quotes:
"An oddball and charming little biography of a very devious pattern. Who knew
that striped fabrics, now a kind of a shorthand for Class, were, from medieval
times onward, so fraught with dangerous meaning?" -- "Esquire"
Review Quotes:
"]A( unique little book." -- "Forbes FYI"
Review Quotes:
"]An( intriguing little book." -- "Library Journal"
Review Quotes:
"[A] unique little book." -- Forbes FYI
Review Quotes:
"[An] intriguing little book." -- Library Journal
Review Quotes:
" The Devil's Cloth kept this reader at the edge of her seat." -- Seattle Times
Review Quotes:
"An oddball and charming little biography of a very devious pattern. Who knew
that striped fabrics, now a kind of a shorthand for Class, were, from medieval
times onward, so fraught with dangerous meaning?" -- Esquire
Review Quotes:
"Pastoureau... is eminently qualified to explore the stripe's peculiar
historical trajectory.... The Devil's Cloth gets to the heart of matters like
the way we perceive color and pattern, and speculates interestingly on whether
these perceptions derive from nature or nurture.... this playful but learned
book will doubtless have an influence." -- Angeline Goreau, The New York Times
Book Review
Review Quotes:
"[A] unique little book." -- "Forbes FYI"
Review Quotes:
"[An] intriguing little book." -- "Library Journal"
Review Quotes:
" "The Devil's Cloth" kept this reader at the edge of her seat." -- "Seattle
Times"
Review Quotes:
"An oddball and charming little biography of a very devious pattern. Who knew
that striped fabrics, now a kind of a shorthand for Class, were, from medieval
times onward, so fraught with dangerous meaning?" -- "Esquire"
Review Quotes:
"Pastoureau... is eminently qualified to explore the stripe's peculiar
historical trajectory.... "The Devil's Cloth" gets to the heart of matters like
the way we perceive color and pattern, and speculates interestingly on whether
these perceptions derive from nature or nurture.... this playful but learned
book will doubtless have an influence." -- Angeline Goreau, "The New York Times
Book Review"
Brief Description:
What do prostitutes, referees, and Renaissance clowns have in common? They all
wear stripes, and "The Devil's Cloth" tells us why. Pastoureau's lively study of
stripes offers a unique perspective on the evolution of fashion, taste, and
visual codes in Western culture.
Publisher Marketing:
Michel Pastoureau's lively study of stripes offers a unique and engaging
perspective on the evolution of fashion, taste, and visual codes in Western
culture.
"The Devil's Cloth" begins with a medieval scandal. When the first Carmelites arrived in France from the Holy Land, the religious order required its members to wear striped habits, prompting turmoil and denunciations in the West that lasted fifty years until the order was forced to accept a quiet, solid color. The medieval eye found any surface in which a background could not be distinguished from a foreground disturbing. Thus, striped clothing was relegated to those on the margins or outside the social order -- jugglers and prostitutes, for example -- and in medieval paintings the devil himself is often depicted wearing stripes. The West has long continued to dress its slaves and servants, its crewmen and convicts in stripes.
But in the last two centuries, stripes have also taken on new, positive
meanings, connoting freedom, youth, playfulness, and pleasure. Witness the
revolutionary stripes on the French and United States flags. In a wide-ranging
discussion that touches on zebras, awnings, and pajamas, augmented by
illustrative plates, the author shows us how stripes have become chic, and even,
in the case of bankers' pin stripes, a symbol of taste and status. However, make
the stripes too wide, and you have a gangster's suit -- the devil's cloth
indeed!
Description for Sales People:
What do prostitutes, referees, and Renaissance clowns have in common? They all
wear stripes, and "The Devil's Cloth" tells us why
Review Quotes:
"Reading about the epic implications of stripes... you feel like a child
gleefully taking apart a toy, examining its small components one by one, then
putting it back together. You've figured out how it works, how its parts relate
to the whole. Only that toy is the entire history of the universe. What could be
more empowering?" -- "New York Times (National edition)"
Review Quotes:
"Thinking of wearing that pinstriped suit for lunch with the boss? Or that fancy
silk tie? Just be thankful that you didn't live a few hundred years ago, when a
getup like that would not only have blown any chance for a raise but could very
well have gotten you killed.... It was this unlikely observation that prompted
Mr. Pastoureau's book." -- Emily Eakin, "The New York Times"
Review Citations:
- Booklist06/01/2001 pg. 1806 (EAN 9780231123662, Hardcover)
- New York Times07/22/2001 pg. 30 (EAN 9780231123662, Hardcover)
- Library Journal11/15/2001 pg. 65 (EAN 9780231123662, Hardcover)
- Reference and Research Bk News11/01/2001 pg. 64 (EAN 9780231123662, Hardcover)
$35.60
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