Hi! I am an independent scholar specializing in the history of dress in America. Recently retired from the American Studies Department at the University of Maryland, I've concentrated most of my research on two main questions:

• How does consumer culture shape identity, particularly gender and age expression?
• How does "identity work" we do throughout our lives influence consumer culture?
  
  

That's the boring basic stuff. For a more personal profile, read this.

My Gender Mystique blog focuses on my work on clothing, sex, and gender. That's not all I do, so Everything Else is about everything else.