Response to the reading

I am 2000 and late, but here is my response!

As I got into the post-medieval, modern part of the book I enjoyed finding out how the meaning of stripes gradually changed and expanded. Like I mentioned in last week's class, in pre-modern Korean traditional dresses, multicolored stripes (and any other patterns or motifs) were meant for the high class or for special occasions such as one's birthday or New Year's Day. (And because I didn't show you the image of the dress I pasted it under this paragraph for you information!) But in contrast, stripes in medieval Europe had a pejorative connotation and were for condemned/guilty people. This contrast was interesting for me, and the later expansion of the meaning of stripes in modern Europe was even more interesting. Before reading the modern part of the book I was wondering when stripes came to be considered stylish and chic. Then the modern part hinted that stripes were expanding, although stripes were not taken as stylish in modern times yet. It gave me an a-ha! and yes! moment.


^ the multicolor stripes in traditional Korean dress for girls


One little thing in the modern part of the book that excited me and gave me another a-ha! moment was where it stated Venetians loved stripes in 15th and 16th centuries and they began the vogue of stripes in Italy. This reminded me of when I visited Venice last summer and stayed at a hotel, because back then, as soon as I entered the hotel I was to stay two nights, I recognized that the wallpapers were all in stripes in the hallways and stairways, and that the curtains and bedding in my room were all in stripes as well. They were very stylish, in gold and teal or gold and blue. At that moment I simply wowed, but upon reading this one or two sentences in The Devil's Cloth, (sorry I didn't mark or write down the page number) I made a connection and thought 'so that is why I saw so many different stripes in Venice!'

I love how this book frequently gives me a-ha! moments and makes me reflect on the different notions of stripes in different cultures.