This is the primary publication to imagine art to wear, often referred to as wearable art, as a discrete American movement that mirrored the cultural, political, social, and non secular concerns of a generation that came of age within the late 1960s and 1970s. Trained primarily within the fine arts, they adopted nontraditional forms, materials, and techniques to create works the use of the body as an armature. Collectively, these practitioners have had a significant but underrecognized have an effect on on art making and education. Their legacy continues nowadays among younger artists who have embraced multimedia varieties of expression.  
 
Wealthy archival and newly commissioned photography bring to life one-of-a-kind work by more than 75 artists, including Gaza Bowen, Jean Cacicedo, Marian Clayden, Ben Compton, Marika Contompasis, Nicki Hitz Edson, Tim Harding, Sharron Hedges, Ana Lisa Hedstrom, Nina Vivian Huryn, Whitney Kent, Ina Kozel, Susanna Lewis, Janet Lipkin, K. Lee Manuel, Linda Mendelson, Norma Minkowitz, Anna VA Polesny, Debra Rapoport, Mario Rivoli, Dina Schwartz, Joan Steiner, Arlene Stimmel, Jamie Summers, JoEllen Trilling, and Katherine Westphal. Off the Wall provides a detailed introduction to art to wear between 1967 and 1997 and elucidates the movement’s origins by linking it to developments within the arts of the period, from fiber art to painting.