The Birth of Cool: Style Narratives of the African Diaspora

Tim Lewis, Review of 'The Birth of Cool: Style Narratives of the African Diaspora' in The Observer explains:

'The Birth of Cool is the product of a lifetime’s research – initially unwitting but latterly professional – into black style and culture. In the book, Tulloch selects a handful of images taken during the 20th century and offers an in-depth analysis of the significance of the clothes and also what the photographs tell us about wider society at the time they were taken.

Some of the subjects are well known: jazz singer and “black female dandy” Billie Holiday, for example, or the civil rights activist Malcolm X. Other images have a personal resonance for Tulloch. The book cover features her “Aunt G”, Gloria Bennett, photographed in Doncaster in 1961 wearing a ruffled dress that she made herself and posing in front of a Jaguar Mk2 that did not belong to her or her husband, neither of whom could drive. The cigarette she confidently cradles “is a declaration of freedom”, writes Tulloch, “black feminine freedom.”

Text on the back cover of the book:

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to the modern day, the book draws on ready-made and homemade fashion, photographs, paintings and films, published and unpublished biographies and letters from Britain, Jamaica, South Africa and the United States to consider how personal style statements reflect issues of racial and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 dress both initiate and confirm change, and the ways in which it expressed identity and resistance in black culture.

Reviews:

“An amazing new celebration of black style, from Billie Holiday to Malcolm X … the product of a lifetime's research.”
The Observer (Tim Lewis, ‘Where Auntie G Meets Malcolm X’, The New Review, In: The Observer, 6 March 2016, pp. 16-17)

“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

Tim Lewis, Carol Tulloch: ‘Dressing well is almost part of the DNA in the black community’, In: The Observer (books online), 6 March 2016. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/06/carol-tulloch-black-style-the-birth-of-cool-interview

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• http://www.nataal.com/birth-of-cool
• http://bookshop.theguardian.com/the-birt...
• http://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/9069...