Fashion, Style & Popular Culture - Volume 9, Issue 3, 2022

Victor Stiebel (1907–76), in his obituary in The Times, was described as a well known and highly esteemed British couturier. Yet, for the first eighteen years of his life, Stiebel lived unremarkably in Durban, South Africa, with his middle-class colonial family. In an article written by a fashion historian who appraised his importance within the British fashion industry, Stiebel is described as the quintessential English designer. How did this ‘Englishness’ develop and what evidence do we see of this quality in his autobiography South African Childhood (1968) that covers his childhood years? The leap from Durban to London and his subsequent career as a court dressmaker and couturier, plus designer for Hollywood stars including Vivien Leigh and Katherine Hepburn, is vast, but it is one that Stiebel eagerly made. The bridge, this article argues, is the very ‘Englishness’ that Stiebel encountered in his home and the colonial society of Durban in the Edwardian era in which he grew up. Life in the colonies concentrated this quality in its settlers probably because of their distance from the metropole rather than their proximity. This article sets out to examine what form this ‘Englishness’ took in Stiebel’s life and work, evident visually in his dress designs according to fashion historians, but also, from a literary historian’s point of view, in his autobiographical writing and written correspondence, particularly that with the actress Vivien Leigh.

In 1934, textiles woven with strips of glittering cellophane were the pinnacle of high fashion. This trend has been credited mainly to Elsa Schiaparelli, who worked closely with the French textile manufacturer, Colcombet, to produce some of the most notable textiles of the early 1930s. While Schiaparelli was undeniably prominent in the promotion of cellophane fashions, she was one of many designers utilizing textiles woven with slit cellulose film during this period. The cellophane fashions produced by Schiaparelli and her peers were startling in their modernity and emblematic of the ‘strange glamour’ worn by some of the best-dressed women of the early 1930s. Cellophane fashions were promoted by the French couturiers throughout 1934 and quickly embraced by the American fashion industry. However, despite this initial enthusiasm, the cellophane fashion trend soon subsided as the artistic and intellectual associations of cellophane fashions were replaced with those of practicality and thrift.

Professional women engage with individual and social issues of ageing, appearance and identity throughout their lives. The challenges professional women have faced since the 1970s have changed as to how they view themselves in new and varied contemporary careers and their perceptions of how others view them. Eleven career women in the Twin Cities, MN, were interviewed about how they managed their appearances throughout their careers. Responses were organized into groups built around the women’s early career narratives – 20s–30s, mid-career narratives – 40s–60s, late and post-career narratives – 70s–90s. We found that these women consciously thought about the meaning and impact of work and their work wardrobe as they passed through each career stage, especially in terms of impression and identity management. We learned through the stories they told how the art, practice and meaning around dressing for work changed over time – with both continuity and change in their expressed outcomes.

Fashion design as a combined term conveys a different connotation than separate words of fashion and design. This is due to the complexity of the fashion system that also involves certain social prejudices, such as gendered practice and being shallow. This has set a gap for considering fashion design as a serious topic to study in comparison to other design subfields such as architecture and industrial design. However, this article argues that by emphasizing the dressmaking aspect in designing fashion, prejudices can be overcome. Finland, especially its capital Helsinki, is an established place for design and an emerging place for fashion. The recent development of the place where the encounter of design and fashion took place provides a unique condition for exploring the contemporary dressmaking practice of Helsinki-based fashion designers. A number of aspects identified from the context are shared to demonstrate how fashion design can be revisited besides the image-making aspect.

The purpose of this research was to investigate a range of individual attributes (i.e. narcissism, self-efficacy, body attitudes and internalization of beauty ideals) as antecedents to young college women’s engagement in both general (non-risky) and risky appearance management behaviours. This study also examined the mediating role of beliefs about the importance of appearance in the relationship between all antecedent variables and engagement in appearance management behaviours. A survey was conducted with female undergraduates (n = 120) who enrolled at a land-grant university in the Midwestern United States. A mediation analysis with PROCESS was conducted to test the direct and indirect relationships among the variables. Exhibitionistic narcissism and internalization of beauty ideals had positive indirect effects on both general (non-risky) and risky appearance management behaviours via beliefs about the importance of appearance. Self-efficacy had a positive direct effect on both general (non-risky) and risky appearance management behaviours, while it had no indirect effect via beliefs about the importance of appearance. Body attitudes had a positive direct effect on general (non-risky) appearance management behaviours only. A mediating role of beliefs about the importance of appearance is discussed. Academic contributions and managerial implications are also discussed.

Drawing on scholar Marc Augé’s concept of non-place, this article contributes to growing studies that focus on the ways in which fashion produces racism. Recent years have shown a rise in the scrutiny by social media of racist fashion garments and campaigns that problematically stereotype, appropriate and Other marginalized cultures. However, less attention has been given to how racism is constructed through design practices in education and curricula, such as through the different activities and techniques that constitute the fashion ideation process. Indeed, few studies to date have examined how commonplace design tools such as sketchbooks, measuring tapes or mannequins reinscribe forms of Othering. This article sets out to critically examine representations of Othering in fashion design sketchbooks and discuss the role this ubiquitous fashion tool might play in encouraging racist fashion representations. The sketchbooks of undergraduate fashion design students were chosen for this study due to the importance of fashion education as a catalyst for future fashion cultures. From an initial sample of seventy sketchbooks, twelve sketchbooks showed representations of cultural difference through an over-reliance on excessive imagery, with limited text. These strategies showed a pattern of reproducing ahistorical static ideas which reinforce cultural hierarchies. Marc Augé’s concept of non-place is used in this study to refer to how time and space are mobilized using various design techniques and employed within sketchbooks. Such techniques show paradoxical representations of cultural differences, which lack context-specific histories and identities. The study identifies two key strategies used within fashion sketchbooks: firstly, the de-contextualization of cultural difference, and then the re-contextualization of cultural difference. Combined, these strategies show how using collaging techniques in sketchbooks in the fashion design process erases meaning by compressing time and space.

The fashion and textile industry is under increasing scrutiny because of its unethical and unsustainable practices. It is clear there needs to be systemic change towards a more ecological future. One way to achieve this is through education, by equipping students with strategies and skills and by nurturing sustainable mindsets. How can we create the next generation of fashion professionals who can help bring the change that is much needed? Having taught sustainability within various modules on a fashion business degree in the United Kingdom, it was observed that a significant number of students engaged at a deeper level with sustainable thinking when learning trends forecasting research. A pilot study was trialled when teaching a short course in India with a small group of interdisciplinary design students and a questionnaire was conducted after the workshop.

This article presents findings and reflections of this cross-cultural experience, with suggestions for future projects and educational approaches.

Review of: African Luxury: Aesthetics and Politics, Mehita Iqani and Simidele Dosekun (eds) (2019)

Bristol: Intellect Ltd., 180 pp.,

ISBN 978-1-78320-993-4, h/bk, $33.00

Review of: Dressed for Freedom: The Fashionable Politics of American Feminism, Einav Rabinovitch-Fox (2021)

Urbana, IL, Chicago, IL and Springfield, IL: University of Illinois Press, 248 pp.,

ISBN 978-0-25204-401-4, h/bk, $110.00

ISBN 978-0-25208-606-9, p/bk, $24.95

ISBN 978-0-25205-294-1, e-book, $14.95

Review of: The Poetics and Politics of the Veil in Iran: An Archival and Photographic Adventure, Azadeh Fatehrad (2020)

Bristol: Intellect Ltd, 116 pp.,

ISBN 978-1-78938-126-9, p/bk, $45.00