Fashion tales 2021. Politics through wardrobes

Beskrivelse

On many occasions, the aesthetic content of dress has contributed to defying the dominant values of fashion and their inherent politics of power. Examples range from the relapses of the Dress Reform of the mid-19thcentury (Riegel 1963; Ormond 1970; Kesselman 1991), through the resistant subcultural styles of the 1950s, to the controversial democratisation of fashion operated by prêt-à-porter in the 1970s (Lipovetsky 1987), and the revendication enacted by civil rights movements.

All these examples can be included in another frame of meaning that establishes the primacy of the modern and Western-centred fashion system on the basis of stylistic innovation, as well as on the visual suggestions influencing our imaginary and shaping people’s experience all around the world.

On another level, the politics of image have become central in fashion brands’ practices. Take, for instance, nostalgia for what is authentic, which has produced the (ab)use of ideas related to vintage, original, cultural heritage, memory, tradition, archive (Smelik 2011) as evidence of fabricated authenticity (Peterson 1979). Other questions have been raised from the hunger for authenticity, which characterises the cultural industries at large and fashion in particular (Jones et al. 2005). This is even more evident in the field of influencer marketing, where the work of fashion brands and lifestyle bloggers/Instagrammers/content creators aims at creating and keeping an aura of authenticity around products and personae.

In recent months, the Covid-19 pandemic has produced unexpected effects on both fashion and its politics. Close-downs of shops during the lockdown period, as well as their subsequent downsizing, have had an impact on the living conditions of workers and employees. The fashion industry has contributed to tackling the health emergency by donating funds and turning over factories to produce sanitary products. A new attitude has emerged, epitomised by Giorgio Armani inviting the fashion industry to slow down. But the crisis has also jeopardised the process of consumption, on the one hand, by determining a decrease in purchases of clothes and accessories, on the other hand, by stimulating the birth of new aesthetic ideals, for example, the search for functional but elegant clothes for remote/smart working.

At this very moment, when the fashion system is challenging its epistemological framework, the political potential of its creativity explodes and uncovers a huge ability to design contemporary aesthetics and imaginaries.

Periode	17 jun. 2021 → 19 jun. 2021
Begivenhedstype	Konference
Grad af anerkendelse	International