Quite possibly the most fascinating, comprehensive and erudite exploration of the lexicon of fashion to be compiled to date! Avoiding obfuscation, superficialities and the capricious nature of the subject, this tome lends gravitas and clarity, (as an authoritative study) covering the plurality, intercultural, historical, sociological, and ultimately the individualistic significance of what we tritely refer to as garments.

Peter Gray

This book is like an object of fashion itself, expertly weaving together an impressive range of disciplines (fashion studies, film studies, Italian, Spanish, French and Anglo-American Literature). The magic thread Masiola uses to stitch, sew, and embroider is language in translation, which forms the text and texture that allows culture to be transmitted and eventually transformed through several geographical and historical perspectives that incorporate gender and genre, the local and the global. That is why reading this study is like wearing a meta-universe virtual-reality headset, one which allows the reader to traverse several fashion environments and, in the process, to augment what Barthes calls the pleasure of the text.

Wanda Balzano, Founding Chair and Associate Professor, Department of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Wake Forest University

The book is the product of superb scholarship and command of the subject matter, investigating as it does the intricacies and complexities of translating (and not translating) terminology that pertains to fashion across time and multiple languages. More than engage in a sweeping multi-disciplinary exercise in applied translation theory, the author examines the evolution of societal attitudes toward fashion, beauty, femininity, vanity, and luxury as these notions and themes are depicted in narratives and visual imagery from ancient times to the digital age. A tour de force that makes a noteworthy contribution to the study of a culturally relevant topic that has been either neglected or underrepresented in academic research.

Corrado Federici, Brock University

Rosanna Masiola uses translation as a thread to lead her readers on an adventurous journey through the history of literature, language and luxury. If you love fashion and style, you will find this book fascinating.

Stefano Ondelli, University of Trieste