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- Volume 2, Issue 1, 2014
Clothing Cultures - Volume 2, Issue 1, 2014
Volume 2, Issue 1, 2014
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Mildred Custin: Bonwit Teller’s Man of the Year
Authors: Michael Mamp and Sara B. MarckettiAbstractMildred Custin served as the President of New York City-based retailer Bonwit Teller from 1965 to 1970. The 1960s was a period of rapid cultural change fuelled by multiple social paradigm shifts related to concepts of gender, race, sexuality and age. Fashion of the era reflected these changing ideals. During this time, Custin introduced European designers such as Pierre Cardin and André Courrèges to the American market. In the Unites States she placed the first major order of up-and-coming designer Calvin Klein. The introduction of menswear under Custin’s leadership to Bonwit’s previously women’s only assortment fuelled the spread of the Peacock Revolution in the United States. As a woman with a gentle voice but clear fashion vision, she embraced styles of the era and successfully led Bonwit Teller through a turbulent period of social history.
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The spiral relationship between suffering and the production of fashionable clothes
By Kevin AlmondAbstractIn this article, I explore the relationships between suffering and the production of fashionable clothes. In the commercial struggle for survival many fashionable styles are discarded while some remain durable due to their adaptability to new trends and creative ideas. The aim of this research was to investigate how suffering initiates these changes in the creative process of fashion design. This was examined through a number of methodologies, which included object-based research and ethnography. The research findings indicate that suffering within the fashion industry can be a positive attribute. It can influence the way in which clothes are produced and the skills necessary to produce them. A model depicting the connection between suffering and fashion is posited as a tentative theory suggesting that there is a spiral relationship in that changes in fashion production and consumption resulting from suffering evolve into a spiral of further suffering impacting on the future of fashion design and manufacture.
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We all want to be big stars: The desire for fame and the draw to The Real Housewives
By Evie PsarrasAbstractThis study analyses eighteen in-depth interviews with adults in the Midwest who watch Bravo’s reality (RTV) docusoap franchise Real Housewives. Shifting the gaze away from RTV effects and towards the proliferation of RTV, RTV stars (celetoids) and what Graeme Turner calls the ‘demotic turn’, this study examines the show’s appeal and whether a latent desire for celetoid-type fame exists among the main viewer groups analysed here (straight women and gay men). A desire for fame appears to be present among the men in this study, and younger men tended to conceive celetoid-type fame as desirable. This study also finds that men and women gravitate towards different character types. Straight women appear less intensely drawn to Real Housewives than gay men, both in terms of buying Real Housewives products and attempting to connect with the women on the show via Twitter. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the profusion of RTV, the demotic turn and celetoids factor into new desires among regular people for celetoid-type fame. This study also adds to recent research that shows that a desire to be famous is now characteristic of younger generations.
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The subversive selfie: Redefining the mediated subject
By Lisa EhlinAbstractThis article approaches the selfie debate through questioning the more simplistic view that the selfie is an effect of narcissism and consumption and instead argues that it can be a shared and transformative practice. Drawing from focus group discussions and using the critical thinking of Levinas, Foucault, Butler and Irigaray, I explore the face and the continuous formation of the subject by basing these arguments on the theoretical dismissal of the domination of a (western) autonomous subject-centred philosophy in favour of the Other, striving towards the expressions of the self as vulnerable, rather than self-absorbed. Furthermore, I discuss the selfie from a feminist viewpoint, where this type of media participation creates a potential space for an alternative female experience to emerge. I argue that the selfie opens up for an ability to mimic and play with social roles, pointing towards potential subversion through awareness and agency, rather than self-objectification. Thus, this article concludes with a recontextualization of the selfie as a sensory, communicative and political practice and experience.
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Evaluative criteria of diamond jewellery used in the decision-making process: Variations across ethnic groups
Authors: Jessica Strubel and Annette BurnsedAbstractGiven the growing importance of ethnicity in America and the unique nature of diamonds, this study formally asked whether an ethnicity effect exists in diamond jewellery attribute preferences (shape, cut, colour, clarity, weight, type, treatment, venue, certification, willingness to spend and origin of the diamond) and, if it does, what differences and similarities have been expressed by the key ethnic consumer groups in America. Survey data were analysed through profile analysis and Tukey’s HSD to determine whether ethnic differences exist in diamond jewellery consumption among African Americans, Asian/Pacific Islanders, Caucasians, Hispanics/Latinos, Middle Easterners and Native Americans. Study results suggest that there is an ethnicity effect associated with diamond jewellery attribute preferences. Ultimately, this study will allow the diamond industry to effectively reach specific end-use consumers.
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An analysis of the quality of 1920s dresses from a university collection
Authors: Diana Saiki and Gary StephensAbstractThe purpose of this study was to analyse eveningwear dresses from the 1920s in a university collection with a quality framework often used by university classes for examining contemporary clothing. The method provided an in-depth analysis identifying critical features of garments from the 1920s and information about the state of ready-to-wear in the 1920s worn in a small town. Exploring application of curricular concepts provides new approaches to examining textiles and apparel in research and curation.
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Reviews
Authors: Jo B. Paoletti, Henry Navarro Delgado and Christina LindholmAbstractFashion and Age: Dress, the Body and Later Life, Julia Twigg (2013) 1st ed., London and New York: Bloomsbury, 184 pp., ISBN: 9781847886965, h/bk, £65/$120, ISBN: 9781847886958, p/bk, £19.99/$29.95
A History of the Paper Pattern Industry: The Home Dressmaking Revolution, Joy Spanabel Emery (2014) London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 253 pp., ISBN: 9780857858313, p/bk, $34.95
The Language of Fashion, Roland Barthes, Andy Stafford and Michael Carter (trans. and eds) (2013) London: Bloomsbury, 173 pp., ISBN: 9781472505422, p/bk, $19.95
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