This article will try to answer, what is understood by “Asian” beauty in Latin America and how race, history and politics have decanted to the almost opposite reception of Chinese and South Korean aesthetics and corporalities. It is based on my research on beauty and the role of makeup in the negotiated construction of appearances. Firstly, I will explore the concepts of beauty and race brought by colonial imposition to the territories that would become Peru and Mexico. I will then explore how these were employed strategically to reinforce the oppression and discriminatory treatment of indigenous populations. In addition, I will focus on the current cosmetic offer from South Korea to the Mexican market, and the reception its versions of beauty have had within the past decade. Online trends helped to generate local demand of K-beauty makeup, one of the many South Korean industries involved in “soft power” politics.. Convergent definitions about health and youth are symbolic motors of its success; the racial bias applied to slim, light-skinned and traditionally feminine-looking bodies helps sell “Asian” beauty as inspirational. Afterwards, I will explore what informants identified as “Chinese”, whether they were referring to products or aesthetic presentations, and their distance from class and racial desirability. My argument follows the complicated treatment Chinese-descended people still encounter in Peru and in Mexico; including the ways my own body has been addressed and altered with makeup as a Chinese–Peruvian.

Since the beginning of the trade between Japan and the West in 1853, the kimono and other oriental garments flooded the Western market. Designers started incorporating the kimono and its elements into their design, therefore, bringing newness to the kind of static decade of Western fashion. There were two different approaches fashion designers used toward exotic garments: some would see just costumes and others would try to preserve the original work. This paper intends to analyze the work of the British designer Alexander McQueen who belongs to the second group, in other words, designers who created modern garments while still trying to keep the traditional aspects of the culture from which they borrowed. An example of the second approach would be McQueen’s (Spring/Summer 2001) “Voss” collection with which he also challenged the concept of beauty. Nature plays an integral part in this collection, but also worth mentioning are the elements of the East, especially Japan. McQueen was one of these designers who did borrow the elements of the countries of the Orient while also preserving the original craftsmanship. When it comes to Japan, in particular, McQueen used Japanese screens with embroidered panels for the creation of the dress. Interestingly, the original Japanese design and craftsmanship were preserved but transformed into something nostalgic and also new.

This work investigates the female performers from Takarazuka Revue in Japan, who play the role of Westerners and men in several musicals and which challenges the traditional power orientation of Orientalism. The construction of the Western identity is analysed through the outer shell of the body, the costumes, stage props and musical plots, and the body presented on the stage with make-up and other bodily techniques. The visual elements are analysed following a semiotical approach, investigating how the layered up meanings express the romanticised Occident distant from the image of the West in today’s society. The ritualistic bodily techniques of Takarazuka performers reveal the performative nature of gender and race. While Ahmed’s phenomenological Orientalism supports the analysis of the orientation between the Occident and Orient, otokoyaku (male impersonators) and musumeyaku (female impersonators), performers and audience, presenting the dynamic power flow in the Occidentalist/Orientalist structures, hence explaining the transgender and transcultural image of the otokoyaku, and their importance in the revue’s image and, ultimately, the “hybrid” discourse it manipulates.

This paper examines the use of Japanese scripts on fashion items. The use of English on fashion items (e.g. t-shirts) has been observed across the globe and examined in the field of sociolinguistics. In recent years, fashion brands such as Gucci, Coach, Adidas, and Nike have printed Japanese scripts on their clothes alongside their original brand names. A UK fashion brand, Superdry, employ Japanese in their brand name and logos. However, the use of languages other than English has not yet been analysed in the fields of sociolinguistics or fashion. The adoption of different cultural norms is often discussed as a form of cultural appropriation. This paper challenges that view by comparing the use of English and Japanese as well as by discussing possible explanations and the roles of Japanese scripts in fashion. It emerges that Japanese scripts are used due to the symbolic, cultural, and linguistic capital that they hold, as well as with a view to enabling brands to express uniqueness. The paper argues that printing Japanese scripts on fashion items is not a simple representation of Japonisme, but rather a form of cultural and linguistic appreciation. It also asserts that the New Orientalism that has been observed in the adaptation of Japanese scripts to fashion has no connotation of otherness. Instead, it represents an active acceptance of the East and the generation of new cultures. Transcultural flows are observed in the field of fashion in the era of globalisation. This paper presents a new perspective on studies on Orientalism and the use of languages and scripts.

Kimono, in many regards, invites transformation. Whether it is a fiber, woven cloth, fashion statement, or cultural material, from the first steps of its conception until its consumption, kimono is naturally an agency infused with the possibility of change, which has different modalities. Created by Japanese designers for a Japanese audience, the kimono retains its key characteristics while addressing new trends and demands. Outside of Japan it found territories where it thrives as a malleable, fashionable item. As a result, a variety of non-Japanese designers reimagined and customized the kimono, seeing its sleeves, colors, surfaces, and material dimensions negotiated through many variables. The first examples examined in this article are the kimono designs of Vitali Babani, created in Paris during the “peak” of Japonisme (1900s to 1930s). The second category is the kimono tailored with African wax and kanga fabrics, as developed by the contemporary brands WAfrica, Lezele, and Über Dandy Kimono. A third example, using the specific kimono dyeing technique of Kyō-Yūzen, will be discussed for its inclusion of the kimono unique palette of motifs and colors into the aesthetic of the Indian sari. These three tendencies, varying in their time and material characteristics, provide a rich terrain to discuss the “Japaneseness” of the kimono outside Japan. They also provide perspectives on how kimono has been negotiated to be a garment that goes on real bodies as well as on media platforms. This article analyzes these three categories of kimono “orientations” by first looking at how these design practices work materially, with a focus on the type of textile bricolage that is at work. Secondly, it explores how the designs are displayed and advertised, interrogating offer, demand, luxury, and media presence.

When I was invited to organize the issue “Fat Fashion: Cultural Perspectives”, I had in mind to interview an international scholar whose works and studies were not translated into Portuguese. I figured this might be a way to get to know some of the excellent studies I had access to when I lived in New York as a visiting scholar at Parsons. [...]

This technical paper will assess new technological advances that could change the way we buy clothes, exploring existing solutions that are still commonly confused with each other: Smart fitting rooms (SFR), interactive mirrors (IM), Virtual Reality (VR), and Augmented Reality (AR). The methodological approach based on an exploratory research will start with a literature review on SFR and IM, comparing the main differences between these two technologies and addressing their unsuccessful attempts in retail. Our research will also assess daily technologies, which could possibly improve the customer’s experience with online shopping, as well as customers with reduced mobility.
 With smart gadgets in every corner, consumers are more difficult to convince with innovative products. We will propose future possibilities for fashion retail, where results will be presented as a first approach, in hopes of creating innovative solutions for the future. Moreover, sustainable implications related with this approach will be addressed in our additional considerations. This technical study considers only two basic solutions that were eventually too complicated to fit into fashion retail, exploring additional solutions that could change these limitations.
 Although explored and researched in the last years, solutions like IM and SFR were once part of what was considered the future of fashion retail. However, poor business models and lack of technological advances at the time limited these solutions. New technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and Mixed-Reality (MR), combined with the latest smartphone evolution could relaunch solutions like these.

Em 1911, a metrópole de São Paulo foi invadida, às vésperas da inauguração do Theatro Municipal, por uma nova moda, a jupe-culotte, que já havia assombrado cidades do Velho Mundo, como Roma e Paris. Esse último grito da moda fora ouvido também na então capital federal, o Rio de Janeiro, onde senhoras que usaram o traje precisaram ser conduzidas para escaparem das ruas em segurança. O artigo investiga as razões dessa animosidade e oferece ainda ao pesquisador a modelagem da jupe-culotte, feita a partir de manuais de modelagem e revistas de moda do período e em instituição museológica, para uso e recriação artística.

Com a ajuda de exemplos provenientes dos domínios das artes decorativas e das belas-artes, mostramos que o brilho das superfícies se torna um dos objetivos maiores da economia das chinoiseries. Os artesãos e artistas suíços tinham conhecimento das porcelanas, das lacas e dos tecidos que se difundiram por toda a Europa, e sua circulação estava ligada às ambições diplomáticas e econômicas dos países envolvidos (China, Japão, Sião, França, Alemanha, Inglaterra, Holanda...). No continente é, portanto, uma questão de dominar essas técnicas para desenvolvê-las e comercializá-las. Além disso, os atores procuram traduzir o brilho e a textura em diferentes meios: os objetos importados da China ou do Japão transformam desse modo o universo sensorial europeu, estimulando a imitação de certas matérias e resultados plásticos, como o brilho e o perolado. Por exemplo, na natureza morta da coleção Getty, o pintor genebrino Jean-Etienne Liotard é diretamente confrontado com as propriedades materiais e formais das lacas asiáticas, introduzindo um novo horizonte visual e tátil na Europa.

Este trabalho é oriundo de pesquisa de mestrado concluída (UFRPE, 2016) sobre as falas acerca de práticas de consumo de 12 pessoas filiadas a partidos políticos compreendidos como de esquerda: Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) e Partido Socialismo e Liberdade (PSOL). As respostas foram obtidas por meio de entrevistas dirigidas em profundidade e o consumo de produtos de vestuário é o recorte aqui apresentado. Pensar no que veste o corpo, sua procedência, seus impactos e suas reverberações é uma via de expressão política refletida (DOUGLAS; ISHERWOOD, [1979] 2013). São práticas cotidianas, construções identitárias (DUBAR, 1997; 2009) e crenças comunicadas a partir do vestir, em um espaço e um tempo determinados (CAMPBELL, 2002), que podem ser sistematizadas e compreendidas a partir de olhar semiótico (GREIMAS; COURTÉS, 1979). Assim, a roupa não foi um item discutido apenas em si mesmo, mas o tema suscitou associações com narrações sobre os estilos de vida, as formas de aquisição, as ponderações sobre modos de produção, além das mais comuns referentes à marca e ao preço. Embora a filiação aos partidos proporcione, em alguma medida, reflexões sobre produção e sistema econômico, as falas revelaram que as práticas dos/as filiados/as são pautadas por suas trajetórias de vida e suas aproximações a movimentos sociais que dialogam com os partidos, mas não necessariamente são orientadas por eles. O ser de esquerda não foi o determinante principal, mas as linhas e entrelinhas do discurso vestido e narrado durante as entrevistas, nas quais se destacaram questões sobre o consumo de bens e produtos.