VERSLUIS, Arie & UYTTENBROEK, Ellie. Exactitudes. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, 2011.

Signed by both photographers. One thing is obvious about clothing: it's not just about keeping warm and dry. But Exactitudes is no less interesting for stating the obvious, because it does this very well. The carefully crafted typologies highlight the markers used by various social groups to distinguish themselves from others. But, more importantly, Exactitudes shines a light on the central role that clothing plays in one of life's great paradoxes: how we long to assert our individuality, yet strive to belong and crave the embrace of the group. Much as we like to think of ourselves as unique, we function in a wider society with strong homogenizing pressures. The series was enlarged to great effect in subsequent editions, each adding increasingly insightful portraits of subgroup, like 'Latte Lovers', 'Invisible Men', or 'Flexmanagers'. What's your tribe? First published in 2002 with just 58 plates of photographs, it was expanded in 2004, 2007, and 2010; this edition comprises 136 plates. A fine copy in a fine dust-jacket.