From periphery to centre: Fashion and popular culture in Brazil

This article comprises three sections aimed at presenting some questions about the relationship between fashion and popular culture in Brazil. The first part deals with the relationship developed between the centre (Europe) and the periphery (Brazil) in the period when fashion culture emerged in Brazil in the nineteenth century. The second part addresses the emergence of a Brazilian visuality, expressed through clothing – yet not constituting fashion – and connected to popular culture, which developed on the fringes of Brazilian society from the nineteenth century to the first half of the twentieth century. Finally, the third part seeks to show how, from the end of the twentieth century, the phenomenon of globalization and its impact on identity have established a different relationship between centre and periphery.