PROFESSOR CAROL TULLOCH
About
News/Diary/Blog
Exhibition Making
Publications
Public Events
Media
CV pdf
Contact
Home
2016
The Birth of Cool
Style Narratives of the African Diaspora
Bloomsbury
London, Oxford, New York,
New Delhi, Sydney.
It is broadly recognized that black style had a clear and profound influence on the history of dress in the twentieth century, with black culture and fashion having long been defined as 'cool'. Yet despite this high profile, in-depth explorations of the culture and history of style and dress in the African diaspora are a relatively recent area of enquiry. The Birth of Cool asserts that 'cool' is seen as an arbiter of presence, and relates how both iconic and 'ordinary' black individuals and groups have marked out their lives through the styling of their bodies.
Focusing on counter- and sub-cultural contexts, this book investigates the role of dress in the creation and assertion of black identity. From the gardenia corsage worn by Billie Holiday to the work-wear of female African-Jamaican market traders, through to the home-dressmaking of black Britons in the 1960s, and the meaning of a polo-neck jumper as depicted in a 1934 self-portrait by African-American artist Malvin Gray Johnson, this study looks at the ways in which the diaspora experience is expressed through self-image.
Spanning the late nineteenth century to the modern day, the book draws on ready-made and homemade fashion, photographs, paintings and films, published and unpublished biographies and letters from Britain, Jamaica, South Africa, and the United States to consider how personal style statements reflect issues of racial and cultural difference. The Birth of Cool is a powerful exploration of how style and dress both initiate and confirm change, and the ways in which they expresses identity and resistance in black culture.
“An amazing new celebration of black style, from Billie Holiday to Malcolm X … the product of a lifetime's research.”
The Observer
“The Birth of Cool makes a unique contribution to studies of dress and culture, as well as to black studies and diaspora studies. Tulloch deconstructs and reconstructs black aesthetics to open new pathways for understanding the lives and social histories of figures like Billie Holiday and Malcolm X. It is one of the most impressive works I have read in years.”
D. Soyini Madison, Northwestern
University, USA
“The Birth of Cool offers a passionate reflexive analysis of transnational black glamour as an expression of undeniable presence, knowledge, and agency. As a foundational text, this book offers readers a deeper and more historical understanding of contemporary 'cool response' activism perhaps most famously practiced by Barack Obama, but visibly evident across the entire African diaspora.”
Annette Lynch, University of Northern Iowa, USA
2015
Syd Shelton:
Rock against Racism
Autograph ABP London
Co-edited by Mark Sealy MBE
and Carol Tulloch
Rock Against Racism (RAR) confronted racist ideology in the streets, parks and town halls of Britain. RAR was formed by a collective of musicians and political activists to fight fascism and racism through music. Shelton’s photographs capture one of the most intriguing and contradictory political periods in British post war history, and for him this work was a socialist act, what he calls a ‘graphic argument’ on behalf of marginalised lives. Shelton photographed performers such as The Clash, Elvis Costello, Misty in Roots, Tom Robinson, Au Pairs and The Specials. He also captured the audiences at RAR gigs and carnivals across England, as well as what he calls ‘the contextual images’ of the lives and landscapes that often fuelled acts of racist violence.
The full colour publication features and essay by Paul Gilroy, Professor of American and English Literature at King’s College London, and an interview with Syd Shelton by Adam Phillips, formerly Principal Child Psychotherapist at Charing Cross Hospital in London, and now a writer and psychoanalyst, and Visiting Professor in the Department of English and Related Literature at the University of York.
September 2010
Fashion Theory
Dress and the Aftrican Diaspora
Special Issue Edited by Carol Tulloch
Text to come...
March 2002
Fashion Theory
Fashion and Photography
Speciual Issue Edited by Carol Tulloch
Text to come...
2005
Beyond Desire
Chapter 3 Lets Get it on
Black Hair by Carol Tulloch
Text to come...
2004
Black Style
V&A Publications
Edited by Carol Tulloch
Text to come...
2003
The Golly
London: V&A Museum of Childhood.
text to come
<
>