Selling Glamour: Marketing Western Women’s Fashion in Interwar Bucharest

Abstract

This paper explores the dynamics of women’s fashion marketing in advertisements and promotional materials related to Western ideas, materials or products, published in interwar Bucharest. The aim is to ascertain the degree and nature of Western women’s fashion influence in interwar Romania as a reflection of larger social, political, cultural and economic phenomena at a local, regional, European and global level. The study also offers an overview of the various individu als and entities involved in the textile and fashion industry of interwar Bucharest, with various budgets and means of propagation, and possible ethical and accuracy concerns regarding their messaging. Also discussed are the major trends in interwar Romanian advertising in relation to the West, namely the import of ideas, raw materials and finished goods. The recourse to semiotics and discourse analysis offers a wider understanding of interwar Romania through the lens of fashion as marketed to interwar Bucharesters, covering all aspects relevant to the fashion industry, from conception, production and dissemination to consumption and interpretation.