Il primate della moda. L'antropologia della moda come teoria della cultura

Originally conceived as an introduction to fashion anthropology, this book adopts a widened perspective by analyzing fashion not only as cultural change related to clothing, but first and foremost as a powerful theoretical framework that can explain cultural change among human groups in general.
By stressing the links between biological and cultural evolution in our species, the author connects imitation in Homo sapiens to its ability to read the other members of its group as more or less aware social actors. On this basis the reader is led on an exploration of the central role of fashion in the human primate and its primacy in the construction of culture, through various case studies drawn from different societies (e.g. the Ancient Roman Culture, contemporary Thailand, Cote d'Ivoire, Benin, etc.) and analyzed according to several factors and parameters worked out in a theoretical introduction. The last part is devoted to an anthropological analysis of fashion as commonly understood and the central role of clothing in human societies.