Western Fashion Research Articles

THE IMAGE OF WOMAN AND FASHION IN TURKISH PAINTINGS OF THE REPUBLIC PERIOD

The proclamation of the Republic has brought changes in the social sphere in the political and the economic fields. Civil Law, with the enacted laws of The Dress and Hat Revolution, brought the place of the women to a more different place than it was in the Ottoman Empire. Women were given the right to elect and be elected. However, women's participation in working life, as a result of prolonged war in the late Ottoman period, has increased also as a necessity, but this has only been possible in Istanbul and large industrial cities. The readdressed education system with the Republic, has increased especially the ratio of women working in the field of education all over the country. The changes, which have been experienced by women in social life, have affected their everyday clothes. It is known from the journal and archive of the palace, that especially women, in the 19th century palace and the top social classes, followed the Western fashion. However, these clothes were only becoming visible in domestic uses; the body was being completely covered while in use outside the home. With the Republic, women, who entered the public space, had the opportunity to follow the fashion that they wish. Unlike the Ottoman Empire, this change was observed in all social structures, not only in the top layer of society. It is possible to see traces of this in the press, in the early years of the Republic. Written press has led to the spread of the new position of women in society and the preferred new dress code in the community. Women's magazines, even they were printed since the Ottoman period; when the literacy rate is concerned between the Ottoman and Republican era, it can be said that Republican magazines have been followed by a wider audience. Republic was intended to awaken a national consciousness by supporting changes with the art of painting. In particular, Feyhaman Duran, Nazmi Ziya, Avni Arbas, Malik Aksel, Bedri Rahmi Eyuboglu, Neset Gunal are important painters of the Republic period. The study aims to read the fashion of the period by using the image of women in the works of the Republic era painters. The female image and fashion used in the works of art will be compared with the overall fashion sense of the term. Keywords : Turkish Painting, Women as Image, Fashion, Cloths, Periods of Turkish Republic.

Selections from The Fight for National Cinema, by Halit Refiğ

Selections from The Fight for National Cinema, by Halit Refiğ Translated by Melis Behlil (bio) and Esin Paça Cengiz (bio) Halit Refiğ’s The Fight for National Cinema (1971) is a collection of essays on cinema in Turkey written between 1965 and 1971.1 Although Refiğ started his career as a critic, by this time he had become an established filmmaker himself, with a filmography ranging from melodrama to social realist film. Refiğ describes his book as an attempt to scrutinize the identity of Turkish cinema—its existence and substance—and argues that intellectuals in Turkey despise this cinema, particularly as a result of their unconditional admiration for the West and its culture, including the cinema of the West.2 For Refiğ, cinema in Turkey can be considered an extension of traditional Turkish arts. And because the film industry in Turkey had grown by the mid-1950s to be one of the largest in the world, despite the lack of formal state support or private investment, purely as a result of people’s interest in watching local productions, Turkish cinema, to Refiğ, has the potential to create a “national cinema.” Refiğ conceptualizes this potential as bringing to the fore a cinema “that is separate from Western cinema and can counter it, and relies on a shared historical culture where the Turkish element plays a dominant and unifying role.”3 From this standpoint, Refiğ conceptualizes popular cinematic practices in Turkey at the time as “people’s cinema,” whereas alternatives aiming to depart from these are designated as “national cinema.” He does so not only by delving into a discussion of the film industry’s economic structures but also by raising questions about culture, national specificity, and the Westernization processes exercised in the declining years of the Ottoman Empire and then in the early years of the Republic of Turkey. At the same time, he tackles the narrational strategies [End Page 1] films adopt and their resemblance to traditional Turkish arts, as well as trends and movements in world cinema. Although Refiğ takes a somewhat excessive nationalistic approach in the book, we as film scholars find his work extremely significant. This is not only because The Fight for National Cinema is one of the first attempts to open up a theoretical discussion on popular cinema in Turkey and deviations from it; we also see his book as one of the early examples of addressing the question of national cinema in a broader context, before national cinema became a substantial topic in film studies. In this respect, Refiğ’s book and the segments we selected from it for translation in this issue raise vital questions about what constitutes national cinema in relation to stylistic, artistic, and economic trends, and about the possibility of a national “specificity” that responds to theoretical discussions, in terms of both Turkish cinema and national cinema in a broader context. To provide readers with a better understanding of the selections from The Fight for National Cinema, it will be useful to introduce the political, economic, cultural, and cinematic contexts in which Refiğ’s conceptualizations came into existence and in which they functioned. As with other national contexts, the nation-building process in Turkey was based on a denial of particular versions of the past, particular views of religion and diverse cultures, communities, and ethnicities. In this respect, Feroz Ahmad notes that Turkey did not rise phoenix-like out of the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, as is often suggested: “It was ‘made’ in the image of the Kemalist elite, which won the national struggle against foreign invaders and the old regime” and founded the Republic of Turkey in 1923.4 To achieve the ideal of a secular and modern state, and at the same time underscore the break with the Ottoman legacy, the founders of the republic embarked on a program of political, economic, and cultural reforms. These reforms encompassed the abolition of the Ottoman sultanate and the office of the caliphate, changes in headgear and dress to match Western fashions, and the closure of religious convents and dervish lodges. Religious titles and tribal and clan names were proscribed, and citizens were required to take up surnames instead...

(De-)politicization Characteristics of the Chinese Dress Represented in Propaganda Posters

This study analyzes Chinese dresses featured in propaganda posters since the mid- century as well as explores the political characteristics of dress. This study used an in-depth interview method to investigate information from 10 Chinese familiar with public awareness and donning practices of the Chinese from 1949 to present. Interviews and analysis provided the following conclusions. First, Zhongshan-zhuang, Liening-Zhuang and Bulaji were widely worn in the Reconstruction because of the revolutionary spirit; in addition, Huayishang also became simultaneously popular as a means to reflect the new aspects of socialism. Second, Jufu/Junbianfu were the most common dresses during the period of Cultural Revolution because the government used various mechanisms to control public opinion. Third, Western fashion began to enter the Chinese market and suit wearing by the Chinese became a symbol of the Reformation and Open-door policy. Traditional dress is no longer a symbol of Feudalism and is a part of Chinese culture that has been reaccepted in the Reformation and Open-door times. Finally, during these 60 years, Chinese dress has obvious political characteristics, but began to change. The changes of political characteristics were, de-politicization expressed by the introduction of Western ready-made, permissions for traditional dress and diversification/ individualization.

한국 모던 걸의 패션 스타일 연구: 실존 인물과 영화 주인공을 중심으로

This study probed into the fashion of modern girls between the 1920's and the 1930's who led the mentality and fashion of women as the progenitor of the alpha girl in Korea. For this, the fashion of actual people who received attention as modern girls in various occupations and that of modern girl heroines reinterpreted in films were examined. Methods included the theoretical study based on fashion related newspaper articles at the time, specialized publications, advance researches, and internet data and the empirical study that involved contents analysis centering on visual data. The Western women's fashion between the 1920's-1930's was dominated by the garçonne look to promote women's entry into society and competition against men and the practical and mature long and slim look due to the influence of economic recess. Korean people also adapted Western clothes following Western fashion while also modified the traditional clothes and wore modified Korean clothes. The fashion of 5 actual modern girls of Korea and that of 3 film heroines were examined. The fashion of actual people most well represented the fashion trends at the time and that they used fashion as the means to express their mentality and their artistic propensity and professionalism were expressed through fashion. On the other hand, the fashion of film heroines substantially expressed various occupations of the characters in the film and reflected trendy clothes and cosmetics, and it showed sexy and romantic fashion trend due to the influence of modern trends and reinterpretations.

Body weight concern among female university students in five Arab countries--a preliminary cross-cultural study.

The aim of this study was to explore some body weight concerns among females at university in five Arab countries. The sample comprised 1,134 females aged 17-32 from universities in five Arab countries: Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Oman and Syria. A pretested questionnaire was used to determine the aspects of body weight concern. Approximately 32% - 39% of females were dissatisfied with their weight, 17% - 31% wanted their body shape to be similar to Western fashion models, and 5% - 16% believed that men preferred plump women. Of the females, 22-37% had dieted to lose weight during the six months prior to the study, and 8-15% performed exercises to improve body shape most of the time. The differences in body weight concerns were statistically significant between countries. Body weight concern is relatively highly prevalent among young Arab women; however the prevalence varied between countries, mainly due to differences in socio-cultural background between countries.

Kimono: a modern history

What is the kimono? Everyday garment? Art object? Symbol of Japan? As Terry Satsuki Milhaupt explains in this book, the kimono has served all of these roles, its meaning changing across time and with the perspective of the wearer or viewer. Kimono: A Modern History begins by exposing the seventeenth and eighteenth-century foundations of the modern kimono fashion industry. It explores the crossover between 'art' and 'fashion' in this period at the hands of famous Japanese painters who worked with clothing pattern books and painted directly onto garments. With Japan's exposure to Western fashion in the 19th century, and Westerners' contact with distinctive Japanese modes of dress and design, the kimono took on new associations and came to symbolize an exotic culture and an alluring female form. In the aftermath of the Second World War, the kimono industry was sustained through government support. The line between fashion and art became blurred, as kimonos produced by famous designers were collected for their beauty and displayed in museums, rather than being worn as clothing. Today, the kimono has once again taken on new dimensions, as the Internet and social media proliferate images of the kimono as a versatile garment to be integrated into a range of individual styles. Published to accompany the Kimono exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, commencing in September 2014, Kimono: A Modern History not only tells the story of a distinctive garment's ever-changing functions and image, but provides a novel perspective on Japan's modernization and encounter with the West.

Country-of-origin and emerging countries: revisiting a complex relationship

Purpose – The purpose of the current study is to attempt to contribute to the understanding of some socio-cultural factors likely to explain the preference for international products in emerging countries, and more specifically those characterising former colonised countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Design/methodology/approach – The chosen approach is exploratory and of a qualitative inductive nature. It was based on a series of semi-structured and unstructured in-depth interviews with Tunisian consumers about their relationship to local and foreign products. Findings – A set of complex and inter-related explanatory factors of the country-of-origin phenomenon emerged through the analysis, notably the complex of the decolonised, acculturation in situ, frustration towards the West and sensitivity to the Western fashion system. Research limitations/implications – The main limitation of this research is that the interviews were carried out among people living in the three main cities of Tunisia, which are urban settings. Practical implications – This research proposes a general framework and a set of new constructs that may be used by leaders of businesses, communications agencies or distribution companies. These elements may help them for segmentation, assortment and range decisions, and brand names. Social implications – Given the failure of “buy local” campaigns, this research shows the importance to revive Tunisian consumers’ feeling of identification with their local culture and to reconcile them with their own identity. Suggestions are given to reach these objectives. Originality/value – This research proposes a framework explaining how the country-of-origin effect in emerging countries operates in a different manner from what has been suggested in the studies conducted in Western contexts.

Reconsideration of Yoush Mazandaran Capabilities to Develop Tourism with a Glance at Local Features of the Area

Nowadays, due to city irregularities, disconnection of current architecture with the culture and climate of each region, and radical dependency to the values of western fashion have drawn their concepts to the rural houses, regions replete with faith, culture and hidden Persian culture. Therefore a village from Mazandaran province was chosen which in addition to natural charm and pristine and untouched nature, several thousand-year history and rich cultural attractions, also has a lot of capabilities in rural tourism development - a fundamental topic in tourism. This research attempts to turn the village into a cultural, tourism center to make a sustainable cultural and tourism development with a glance at related local features. This is a historical-interpretative article and the data gathering is based on documentations. Firstly we will mention concepts related to rural tourism and sustainability, then briefly review the existing potentials in villages and finally present solutions in order to deliver the preferred objectives, may they work.

Pomorskie rzemiosła skórnicze w okresie przemian ustrojowych (XII-XIV wiek)

Research on medieval shoemaking allowed for the identification of several structural and stylistic types of Pomeranian footwear. In the 12th–14th century in Pomerania there were no products actually directly derived from ancient traditions. One of the most important stages of this type of production in the Early Middle Ages was the transition from single-piece footwear to complex forms with the soles and upper parts sewn together. Along with the dynamic widespread use of multi-piece products, new sewing techniques allowing the maker to hide the stitches inside the footwear also quickly developed. It not only improved the footwear’s appearance, but also it made it more impermeable to water. The typical varied nature of activities carried out within a single household does not rule out the existence of a separate shoemaking craft supplying customers. From the late 11th to the mid-12th century changes occurred that significantly influenced the further development of this branch of production. A variety of additional footwear elements of both construction and aesthetic nature quickly became popular. In the late 12th and early 13th century it had already become the norm to stitch binding on the inside of a shoe lace hole to protect it from wear and to use a heel stiffener to strengthen the back of the quarter. In the second half of the 12th–early 13th century the dominant form was footwear with a low, ankle-high quarter, fastened by a single shoelace. Mid-high products of a quarter covering the ankle and extending over it became more common. In the mid-13th century, apart from the diversity of the product range, clear signs of quality and aesthetic changes are evident. They are evidence of a larger social diversity amongst consumers. About the mid-13th century the design innovations introduced in the 12th century were consolidated, while the look and shape of individual components of footwear was changeable. The features of shoemaking in the later stages of the Middle Ages were slender, pointed, strongly profiled soles. There are also soles composed of two or three parts as well as more multi-layered ones. In the youngest stages of the Middle Ages additional elements on the bottoms of shoes were noted: outsoles and heels. Their shape and manner of fastening is evidence that they were made deliberately during the production of new footwear and not during its repair. Essentially the same in terms of the design, the shoe uppers differed in quarter height, shape and design and complementary inserts, the manner of fastening, the width of the opening of the shoe, decoration and other minor features. Quite clearly, especially in the second half of the 13th–14th century, there was a division between everyday or working footwear and the enhanced aesthetic value that can be associated with festive attire. At this time the number of children’s shoes produced also significantly increased. At least some part of the changes taking place in Pomeranian shoemaking in the 12th century, especially in its second half, can be associated with the adoption of Western fashion patterns. The canons of costume formed in this century survived for nearly two and a half centuries, until about the mid-14th century. Medieval leather working was not limited to footwear. In materials from excavations it is difficult, however, to detect furriers’ products and costume elements made of thin grain leather (cloaks, hoods, leggings, headdress or robes). The presence of furrier products in the case of archaeological finds is confirmed only by z Products made from grain leather are mainly belts, various cases and bags, gloves, and sometimes identifiable parts of weaponry. The most evident differences between leather products from the early and the late Middle Ages are the sheaths. About the mid-13th century specimens with specific iron fittings with a long ferrule began to appear. They soon replaced traditional fittings of non-ferrous metals. The fashion for decorating the sheaths’ edges by cutting geometric patterns into their lower parts became popular. The smallest stylistic variability is evident in pouches. To the southern coast of the Baltic Sea res novae arrived relatively quickly, although a more noticeable boom took place in the 13th century and the first half of the 14th century. Changes perceptible in the style of Pomeranian leather products in the second half of the 13th–first half of the 14th century may result from the standards included in guild statutes, strictly regulating the scope of activities and quality of products.oological analyses.

The Typological Process and the Morphological Period: A Cross-Cultural Assessment

The concepts ‘typological process’ and ‘morphological period’ have received surprisingly little empirical substantiation despite their familiarity to many urban morphologists. They are examined here in two contrasting cultural areas—England and the Shanghai area, China—over the period from the mid-19th century to the late-20th century. Sequences of ordinary residential building types are recognized in the two areas: for example, historical series of terraced house types in England and historical variations on the lilong development unit in the Shanghai area. Periods characterized by different types and connections between those types are identified. The areas are different in both their building types and their periodizations but commonalities in their processes of change, including those related to the spread of Western fashions, are found. The difficulty of uncovering the mechanism of the typological process whereby one form type is succeeded by another reflects major problems of assembling the requisite data. Many more comparative studies, including between contrasting cultural areas, are needed.

Negotiation between Fashion Marketers and Journalists in Asia

The article investigates how global fashion, beauty and luxury industries and Hong Kong print media business appropriate, negotiate and re-create the meaning of ‘fashion’ and its vicissitudes in and through the encoding and channel stages of marketing communication. The researcher applied interdisciplinary theories on marketing, media, culture and communication studies. As participant observation peculiar to Hong Kong/Asian fashion industry has not been done before, the research provides original, updated insights to the ecosystem of Asian fashion marketing and journalism, also the practicality of Western fashion theories in Asia. Primary research data were acquired through participant observation in the renowned Chinese fashion magazine MILK X Monthly (Summer 2011), and through which interviews with 16 out of the 55 invited veteran Asia-Pacific fashion marketers were facilitated. How the fashion marketers and editors prioritize and represent various fashion brands as ‘luxury/street fashion’ via the bricolage of textual and visual signs in the editorial production process under various internal and external influences were scrutinized. The results indicate that the consensual censorship of editorial content and pagination derived from economic factors prevails in MILK X Monthly; the pros of having the same fashion marketer handling both advertising and public relations; and the cons of fashion corporate guidelines to external communication and media relations building in Asia-pacific context. It also demonstrates the unobserved parts of fashion communication in local context upon which future research on other fashion media can be built.

African Art Studies: Are They No Longer Taking the Paths Less Traveled?

African Art Studies: Are They No Longer Taking the Paths Less Traveled?

Globalization of the Cashmere Market and the Decline of Large Mammals in Central Asia

As drivers of terrestrial ecosystems, humans have replaced large carnivores in most areas, and human influence not only exerts striking ecological pressures on biodiversity at local scales but also has indirect effects in distant corners of the world. We suggest that the multibillion dollar cashmere industry creates economic motivations that link western fashion preferences for cashmere to land use in Central Asia. This penchant for stylish clothing, in turn, encourages herders to increase livestock production which affects persistence of over 6 endangered large mammals in these remote, arid ecosystems. We hypothesized that global trade in cashmere has strong negative effects on native large mammals of deserts and grassland where cashmere-producing goats are raised. We used time series data, ecological snapshots of the biomass of native and domestic ungulates, and ecologically and behaviorally based fieldwork to test our hypothesis. In Mongolia increases in domestic goat production were associated with a 3-fold increase in local profits for herders coexisting with endangered saiga (Saiga tatarica).That increasing domestic grazing pressure carries fitness consequences was inferred on the basis of an approximately 4-fold difference in juvenile recruitment among blue sheep (Pseudois nayaur)in trans-Himalayan India. Across 7 study areas in Mongolia, India, and China's Tibetan Plateau, native ungulate biomass is now <5% that of domestic species. Such trends suggest ecosystem degradation and decreased capacity for the persistence of native species, including at least 8 Asian endemic species: saiga, chiru (Pantholops hodgsoni), Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus), snow leopard(Panthera uncia), khulan(Equus hemionus), kiang (E. kiang), takhi (E. przewalski), and wild yak (Bos mutus). Our results suggest striking yet indirect and unintended actions that link trophic-level effects to markets induced by the trade for cashmere.

In search of status through brands from Western and Asian origins: Examining the changing face of fashion clothing consumption in Chinese young adults

Consumption for many is increasingly underpinned by the search for and creation of identity and status through specific consumption practices, including consumerism and placing a high priority on brands. One product category where such consumption practices underpin its growth and marketing is fashion clothing. The expressive nature of clothing makes it particularly important in societies where consumerism and status seeking is a priority. In picking up the significance and the role of fashion clothing, this study explores the impact of Chinese young adults’ consumerism, their status consumption tendencies and decision-making style on their perceptions of fashion clothing brands’ status, with origins from the West versus Asia. The results show that Chinese young adults prefer fashion clothing brands with Western origins over those with Asian origins. The levels of consumerism, status consumption and decision-making styles were major contributors to how they perceived the brands, and in this sense western fashion clothing brands may communicate status and wealth better than Asian brands. Further, the findings show a willingness on the part of young Chinese adults to buy more than what they need and look for prestigious-symbolic brands of fashion clothing.

A Brief History of the Burqini

The burqini is a full-body swimsuit with an attached hood, originally created for Muslim lifeguards in Australia in 2006 by Lebanese-born fashion designer, Aheda Zanetti.?Widely copied by other designers around the world, the burqini has been simultaneously embraced and reviled.?Although generally accepted in Australia and by mainstream Muslims, reactions in Europe (in the era of the so-called “burqa ban”) have been much more hostile—a departure from standard swimming attire that calls to mind difficult questions concerning immigration, gender, and the limits of political correctness.?As a design solution for women who want to swim while staying covered—a style of dress that disappeared from Western fashion in the mid-1900s—the burqini represents a new and fascinating case study in the aesthetics and global politics of Islamic dress.?

Still Heard: Echoes from a Colonial Past

In the 19th century, Parsi women started wearing elaborately embroidered saris known as garas. What is not generally known is that these beautiful textiles were imported from China. Their arrival in India forms a little known sub-plot in the wider saga of British imperialism and the unique Parsi response to the imperatives of foreign rule. When new marketing opportunities opened up in China for the East India Company in the second half of the 18th century, the Parsis were well-positioned to take advantage of them. By the 1830s, the Parsis had become leading players in the China trade. Clothing, that very visible marker of social status, was part of the wider process through which the Parsis came to identify themselves with the ruling elite. While Parsi women continued to wear saris, they achieved a modern and sophisticated look by adding elements of Western fashion to their clothing. It is reasonable to conjecture that the appeal of Chinese embroidery was a reflection of prevailing fashion trends in Britain. Parsi clients selected designs for their garas from the same generic pattern books used as sources for other Chinese export embroideries, including those that went to Europe and America. Workshops producing ‘Chinese’ embroidery sprang up in Surat and, in time, Parsi housewives, especially in smaller towns, also took up the craft, their embroidery skills providing a welcome source of income. This article traces the history of the gara and its association with imperialism as well as trade with China.

A New Look for “The New Woman”: The Shaping of “Proletarian Taste” (1945-1951)

The post-war “new woman” was supposed to reject fashion as a cultural practice of the decadent bourgeois world. The paper analyzes the attempt made by the Yugoslav communist regime to establish original socialist clothing outside the influence of western systems of fashion. I will explore the characteristics of “utopian clothing” and the bases of a new aesthetic. Simple, practical, unobtrusive and appropriate clothing displayed the role of women in socialist society to the world at large, at the same time reminding women of the duties and limitations which came with the role. Even though gaudiness was declared backward, the public taste could be appeased through the use of ethno motives. Ornamentation based on the reinterpretation of traditional cultural heritage was interpreted as a defense against western influences as well as a visual display of national harmony. However, the attempt to establish a radically different course in fashion was deeply conflicting. The imposed oblivion towards old dress codes implied a look back: the production of exemplary styles mimicked not only traditional material heritage, but also western fashion of the early 1940’s.

한국 패션 박물관 건립을 위한 패션 박물관의 기능과 현황 연구

These days, fashion museums that were established during the 60~70s in advanced countries are spiritedly planning opportune exhibitions as well as opening collections and accumulated research materials to the public. They are also publishing innovative visual references and offering various educational programs. They play a crucial role in speeding up the development of creativity of fashion designers by accumulating archives through analytic researches. Since Korea has applied western fashion for over a century, now is the time to make a fundamental long-term plan for establishing the identity of Korean fashion by gathering and classifying the history of a century. Thus, the aim of this study is to reach a conclusion to construct fashion museum in Korea to discover as well as develop fashion talents and eventually enhancing national competitiveness. First, the theoretical study on the history and the functions of fashion museum were analysed. `The collection & exhibition` in the common thread is one function of the fashion museum. Another function is `the research`, which includes accumulations, classification and record of materials in a particular point of view. It also includes publishing catalogues with temporary exhibitions and open management to the scholars and the designers. `The communication`, which is enacted through various educational programs and events for inflow of new visitors, is the other function of fashion museum. The current state of fashion museums in advanced countries and Korea were also analysed. Korean public museums only owned traditional collections while public fashion museums in other advanced countries usually owned collection of the past and the present together. The only contemporary fashion museum in Korea is run private which leads to many problems. Finally, The study went further to suggest the advanced model of fashion museum in Korea based on the research.

The Identity of Fashion in Contemporary China and the New Relationships with the West

Since the 1980s China has been the prime producer internationally and, since a decade ago, one of the main fashion consumers. Western brand dependence and its logos coexist in China with various forms of self-affirmation and predilection for other Asian aesthetics, not least Japanese and Korean. Joint ventures with Western fashion companies are also part of the present-day fashion choice, preventing us from understanding the current fashion system in China. Chinese leadership in production and strong consumer practice will very probably soon extend to design and branding. But what is Chinese fashion? This question is important regarding not only the specific characteristics of Chinese fashion, but also the whole international fashion system. This article will attempt to address these questions.

FashionEast: the spectre that haunted socialism

The idea of fashion under socialism conjures up images of babushka headscarves and black market blue jeans. And yet, as Djurdja Bartlett shows in this groundbreaking book, the socialist East had an intimate relationship with fashion. Official antagonism—which cast fashion as frivolous and antirevolutionary—eventually gave way to grudging acceptance and creeping consumerism. Bartlett outlines three phases in socialist fashion, and illustrates them with abundant images from magazines of the period: postrevolutionary utopian dress, official state-sanctioned socialist fashion, and samizdat-style everyday fashion. Utopian dress, ranging from the geometric abstraction of the constructivists under Bolshevism in the Soviet Union to the no-frills desexualized uniform of a factory worker in Czechoslovakia, reflected the revolutionary urge for a clean break with the past. The highly centralized socialist fashion system, part of Stalinist industrialization, offered official prototypes of high fashion that were never available in stores—mythical images of smart and luxurious dresses that symbolized the economic progress that socialist regimes dreamed of. Everyday fashion, starting in the 1950s, was an unofficial, do-it-yourself enterprise: Western fashions obtained through semiclandestine channels or sewn at home. The state tolerated the demand for Western fashion, promising the burgeoning middle class consumer goods in exchange for political loyalty. Bartlett traces the progress of socialist fashion in the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, East Germany, Poland, and Yugoslavia, drawing on state-sponsored socialist women’s magazines, etiquette books, socialist manuals on dress, private archives, and her own interviews with designers, fashion editors, and other key figures. Fashion, she suggests, with all its ephemerality and dynamism, was in perpetual conflict with the socialist regimes’ fear of change and need for control. It was, to echo the famous first sentence from the Communist Manifesto, the spectre that haunted socialism until the end.