Author: Susan Neill

Annette Lynch is a professor in the Textile and Apparel Program at the University of Northern Iowa. Her research focuses on the role of dress and appearance in negotiating gender role transformation and cultural change, particularly within the United States. Her book Dress, Gender and Cultural Change examined the role of dress worn within rites of passage in modifying and reinventing tradition and gender ideals for Hmong and African American teenagers and young adults. She has also written extensively on the mainstreaming of porn culture into fashion and identity constructions in the new millennium. Mitchell D. Strauss is professor of textiles and apparel at the University of Northern Iowa. He has been involved in education and consulting with the textile industry for more than thirty years. He has also served as the dean of the Institute of Textile Technology, department head of Design, Textiles and Interior Design at Kansas State University, and director of textile research at Air Products & Chemicals. His most recent scholarship has included field research exploring the meaning of dress among Confederate Civil War re-enactors, as well as coauthoring with Dr. Lynch Changing Fashion: A Critical Introduction to Trend Analysis and Meaning.