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On 2 September 2015, it was announced that Tom Ford would again be ‘dressing James Bond’, Daniel Craig, in Spectre (Mendes, 2015) after tailoring his suits for Quantum of Solace (Forster, 2008) and Skyfall (Mendes, 2012). Ford noted that ‘James Bond epitomises the Tom Ford man in his elegance, style and love of luxury. It is an honour to move forward with this iconic character’.

  With the press launch of ‘Bond 25’(and now titled No Time to Die) on 25 April 2019, it is reasonable to speculate that Ford will once again be employed as James Bond’s tailor of choice, given that it is likely to be Craig’s last outing as 007. Previous actors playing the role of James Bond have all had different tailors. Sean Connery was tailored by Anthony Sinclair and George Lazenby by Dimitro ‘Dimi’ Major. Roger Moore recommended his own personal tailors Cyril Castle, Angelo Vitucci and Douglas Hayward. For Timothy Dalton, Stefano Ricci provided the suits, and Pierce Brosnan was dressed by Brioni. Therefore, this chapter will analyse the role of tailoring within the James Bond films, and how this in turn contributes to the look and character of this film franchise more generally. It aims to understand how different tailors have contributed to the masculinity of Bond: an agent dressed to thrill as well as to kill.

This chapter sets up the national event of Carnival in Trinidad as a contested space of liberation and tradition. It explores the intersections of gender and race for a group of young Indian Trinidadian women and highlights the ways in which agency, articulated as sexual liberation and ‘free-up’, is enabled and disabled in relation to mas¹ performance.

Based on ethnographic research conducted in Trinidad in 2011 (Raghunandan, K. (2014). The Dougla poetics of Indianness: Negotiating race and gender in Trinidad. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Leeds), this chapter draws on a selection of interviews conducted with a group of young Indian Trinidadian women between the ages of 18 and 25.

The binaristic positioning of modern, morally destructive masquerader vis-à-vis the traditional non-participant is an inadequate approach and this has, to a significant extent, dominated media representations of Indian women which draw on these monolithic stereotypes. There are many ways of ‘doing’ gender and race. Playing mas is only one of them.

These findings are in no way representative of the entire Indian descent population, nor can the young women’s talk be regarded as wholly representative of their lives. Rather, these are a snapshot of their discursively produced subjectivities within a particular time and space.

By problematising the mixed and multicultural image of Carnival, this chapter makes a contribution to Carnival scholarship in its analysis of Indian Trinidadian women’s voices which do not typically feature in Carnival literature. In its drawing upon these voices as epistemological sources, it makes a contribution to wider discourses of race, gender and the nation in the Trinidadian context.

In this chapter, I utilize insights from symbolic interaction to analyze the identity work processes of larp subculture participants to construct and perform their in-game identities. I extend the research on larp subcultures in two ways. First, I place larping within the larger context of leisure subcultures and society by arguing that larping is representative of changes in leisure and subcultures in postmodern society. Second, I draw upon ethnographic data collected among the New England Role-playing Organization (NERO) to analyze larpers character identity performances. RPG and Larp researchers have developed several theories about the relationship between larp participants and their character performances. While these concepts provide a helpful framework for understanding the participant-character relationship, they undertheorize the in-game constructed performance of identity. Using symbolic interaction theory, I analyze the identity work processes larpers use to construct and perform their larp identities extending our understanding of the similarities between everyday identity and larpers' character identity performances.

The authors analyse narratives of Chinese consumers of Vintage Costume Jewellery to show how value is attributed to vintage items, often in direct contrast to contemporary luxury goods. Examining a range of factors in this process, including uniqueness, scarcity, historical specificity, social meaning and cultural legitimacy, authenticity is shown to be central to the positioning of jewellery and those who collect, trade and appreciate it as tasteful and discerning consumers.

This chapter offers professional advice for educators, particularly those unfamiliar with history-based performance, on how to move their historic character research to the place of actual portrayal. Using a questioning method, the author takes the reader step-by-step through essential elements of historical character portrayal such as character perspective, props, and costuming, placing them within the context of educational objectives and performance logistics. The author discusses in detail differences between portraying a well-known historical figure versus someone connected to that person. She explains the importance of choosing a date for a first-person portrayal, as it defines what the character “knows,” and provides techniques for handling questions beyond the character's date range. For newcomers to researching and portraying historical figures, it is important to consider the following points: What is each character teaching? Where will the presentation be held? Is the presentation solely for students, or does it include peers, parents, or administrators? This chapter addresses these critical questions along with research techniques, performance methods, and practical suggestions for obtaining costumes and props. In addition, the author discusses presentation skills required for an effective presentation, such as voice, mood, and movement. She provides examples from her own professional repertoire showing how techniques such as pace level and articulation work effectively in front of an audience and breaks down the structure of a 20- to 45-minute presentation. The author gives examples of how to be prepared for audience questions and unexpected interruptions during a performance. Finally, she explains the importance of the “story” in historic character presentations to enhance its teaching and presentation effectiveness.

Packing for travel is an intriguing aspect of tourist behavior. Until recently, no research has sought to explain what the modern traveler packs for air journeys or why these items are packed. Perhaps for some observers these questions appear mundane, and the answers appear obvious, yet these issues attract a great volume on commentary on websites, blogs, in travel books, in magazines, and conversations between travelers. From these sources, Hyde and Olesen (2011) developed a grounded theory of packing for air travel. The purpose of this article is to test the grounded theory of packing for air travel using video-ethnographic case study data. The findings are that the grounded theory for air travel is able to explain what possessions are packed and the motives for these items being packed. The emphasis that any individual places on the possessions they pack and the role these possessions play during a journey will differ by traveler. This adds to extant literature on packing for travel.

In the introduction to Beyond Bombshells, Jeffrey A Brown lists examples of blockbuster films with leading female heroines and proclaims that they have ‘challenged the assumption that action movies are a strictly male domain’ (2015, p. 6). His examples include, but are not limited to, the Kill Bill films (2003, 2005), The Hunger Games (2012), Brave (2012) and Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), all of which demonstrate the rise in popularity of the woman-led action film. However, these films also demonstrate a reluctance of the action film to detach itself from masculinity. Despite their female leads, these action films still foreground masculinity. The films have darker colour palettes and their female leads tend to have masculine coded traits and hobbies, suggesting that women can succeed within this genre only by distancing themselves from femininity.

This chapter analyses the subversion of the genre conventions of action by exploring the use of feminine objects in director Cathy Yan's Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn (2020). Written and directed by women, Birds of Prey is a notable turn in the action genre as it makes use of feminine objects (hair ties, glitter, fashion, jewellery) within action sequences that don't just allow a female presence within the action, but centre feminine power. By relocating femininity and masculinity to objects rather than bodies, new ways of understanding how genre conventions are not fixed but fluid are opened up for further exploration.

The close link between fashion and from a historical and sociological point of view is the focus of this chapter. Since the Industrial Revolution, these two industries have been part of the path toward modernity in Western Europe. The new industrial society created a different relationship with leisure time and bodies. On the other hand, fashion tourism accelerated and intensified this process toward unforeseen outcomes: new social relations and the loosening of traditional morality constraints. The swimming costume represents the point of encounter and overlapping between these two spheres: a significant element of novelty despite its ever-shrinking dimensions.

In this chapter, the author shares almost 2 decades of experience as Director of Colonial Day at the Oklahoma State Capitol in guiding students' storytelling and historical interpretation. Storytelling provides specific benefits in the classroom, including increased student interest, creativity, citizenship, and awareness of heritage and history. The author explains the pedagogical and curricular value of storytelling and historical interpretation activities; she provides a strong rationale for involving students in both processes for engagement and also as a multimodal learning method. Potter shows how to develop an effective instructional sequence that addresses not only assessment but also student motivation and creativity. Modeling storytelling and historical interpretation for students prepares them to take the next steps in research and development for their own presentations that incorporate language arts, social studies, civics, and critical thinking skills. The author provides detailed suggestions on directing student performances at the community and state levels, which in turn foster a sense of personal achievement and external recognition for their work. This chapter includes resources and strategies to support students in choosing historical figures and stories for their projects, in conducting research, in story mapping, and in identifying performance criteria. At the performance level, the author offers tips on coaching students effectively and using media. She concludes with recommendations on how to showcase student work at the school and state levels, to build parent involvement, and to manage funding and publicity.