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Introduction
Cynthia Kuhn and Cindy Carlson
Do not look upon all this that I am telling you about the clothes as uncalled for or spun out, for they have a great deal to do with the story.—Cervantes, Don Quixote (I: 51)
Whether describing an elegant gown in luxurious detail or registering a simple tunic, storytellers attend to clothes. Color schemes, patterns, or emblems may seem easy to identify and interpret, but literary dress can be deceptively multifaceted. Far from merely enhancing characterization or creating a visual snapshot, the vestimentary frame enacts a site of aesthetic, social, and political inscription—rich material for analysis. Furthermore, aspects of the affiliations between the living body and its decorations can be represented in literature, but the written clothed body, as well as disembodied attire, may also function as a narrative element with multiple dimensions. Thus, while sartorial performativity is at issue, so is the employment of apparel or accessory as symbol, image, motif, or metaphor. Numerous authors have made powerful—even radical—use of dress; however, it is only with the development of fashion theory that scholars have been able to argue for the consideration of clothing and its implications as a generative critical lens, inviting new and exciting avenues of investigation.