The Ambient Gaze: Sensory Atmosphere and the Dressed Body

This book chapter theorises the dressed body as having a 'sensory atmosphere' and considers how an empathetic 'ambient gaze' might complicate how dressed bodies are understood and interpreted, enabling a more nuanced understanding of the role dress plays in everyday life, from the perspective of the wearer. In so doing it questions the power of the social gaze and the importance given to appearance within the experience of being dressed in everyday life within existing academic research.