{"product_id":"the-devils-cloth","title":"The Devil's Cloth","description":"\u003cp\u003eMichel Pastoureaus lively study of stripes offers a unique and engaging perspective on the evolution of fashion  taste  and visual codes in Western culture.  The Devils Cloth begins with a medieval scandal. When the first Carmelites arrived in France from the Holy Land  the religious order required its members to wear striped habits  prompting turmoil and denunciations in the West that lasted fifty years until the order was forced to accept a quiet  solid color. The medieval eye found any surface in which a background could not be distinguished from a foreground disturbing. Thus  striped clothing was relegated to those on the margins or outside the social orderjugglers and prostitutes  for exampleand in medieval paintings the devil himself is often depicted wearing stripes. The West has long continued to dress its slaves and servants  its crewmen and convicts in stripes.  But in the last two centuries  stripes have also taken on new  positive meanings  connoting freedom  youth  playfulness  and pleasure. Witness the revolutionary stripes on the French and United States flags. In a wide-ranging discussion that touches on zebras  awnings  and pajamas  augmented by illustrative plates  the author shows us how stripes have become chic  and even  in the case of bankers pin stripes  a symbol of taste and status. However  make the stripes too wide  and you have a gangsters suitthe devils cloth indeed!\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44986705313845,"sku":"ByrdShop_0231123663","price":43.51,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780231123662.jpg?v=1770914296","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-devils-cloth","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}