Funded by the Deutsches Historisches Institut (DHI) Warsaw and the Institute for the History of the German Jews (IGdJ), Hamburg
Concepts of dress, fashion and beauty are particularly suitable categories of analysis for research questions inspired by historical scholarship and cultural sciences. Crucial key concepts for these more recent research perspectives and related methodological approaches were provided most notably by studies in fashion theory, which since the 1990s have been influenced by the cultural studies as well as by art history, media and design studies (Craik 1994; Breward 1995; 1998; 1999; 2004; Steele 1988; 1997 et al.).
As far back as The Fashion System (Barthes 1967), the notion of fashion in cultural sciences is increasingly classified as a “phenomenon of perception” (Lehnert 2012). This is accompanied by processes of cultural attribution, which largely depend on the particular actors in question and are subject to change over time. An additional field of research encompasses several social and economic practices related to fashion, such as the design, advertising, distribution and consumption. Over the past years these questions have been adopted by historians.
The connection of national or political self-conception and physical appearance grew in importance by the time of the French Revolution. In certain historical and social constellations it constantly gained significance. This allows, inter alia, an explanation of the relatively high number of historical studies over the recent years, which consider the subject of fashion in the context of totalitarian and/or socialist systems.
The basic premise that "everybody needs to dress" enables historians to examine to which extent individuals and groups define themselves by means of clothing, fashion and beauty ideals, or whether (and how) they disassociate themselves from these ideals. In short, whether intended by the respective actors or not, (self-)identifications, categorizations, self-images and feelings of belonging can be clarified within this framework. Did people over the course of history also try to express national, religious or political belonging through their clothes? In these respects, manifestations of power relations can come into focus, whether in terms of the relationship between (state) authorities and individuals or with regard to social stratification, interactions between the individual and the collective, generational differences or gender roles.
A historical perspective and a focus on various geographical areas and communities enable us to emphasize the constructed and dynamic nature of concepts of fashion and beauty. When was clothing classified as "fashion"; was this development linked to the emergence of a garment industry?
When and how did fashion potentially act as a concept in strategies of modernization? What role did the divide between rural and urban areas play?
In which contexts and models of society did fashion have a negative connotation? Fashion was incompatible, for instance, with images of physical labour, especially in regions where, according to socialist utopias, new images of man, including man's appearances, had to be formed.
Communist parties sometimes viewed an emerging fashion culture critically. In Palestine, for instance, Zionists brought to the Kibbuzim a so called "Anti-Fashion", which was integrated into their ideals.
The communication of such ideals is directly linked to the question of visual representation and performance. What role did drawings and the emergence of photography play? What role did the rise of an entertainment industry, including magazines, play with regard to the distribution of clothes, fashion and beauty ideals?
What transnational frameworks of reference influenced aesthetic concepts in the spheres of fashion and clothing (such as "Paris fashion")? To what extent can processes of transfer and modification be observed, for instance, in socialist countries, where Western models were adapted to one’s own needs?
In a three-day-workshop, with ample room for discussion, we would like to explore how ideals of clothing, fashion and beauty as categories of analysis provide a new perspective upon historical processes of negotiation in the context of nation-building and during the implementation of social projects and utopias.
We aim for a broad geographical coverage with regard to the contributions. The chronological focus should be on the modern period. The focus lies on both the actors, who determined and shaped the processes of negotiation as to what was considered "fashionable", and on the analysis of tension in the economic, medial, political and social realms that were the driving forces behind far more visible manifestations.
Clothing, fashion, and beauty should in principle be reflected and discussed as a historical category of analysis. Of interest are, among other things, methodological and theoretical approaches (for instance of visual culture studies, of material culture, performativity, body history, etc.), whose applicability should be examined by using historical case studies.
The workshop will be held in English.
The committee invites researchers to submit abstracts for short presentations (in English), which are connected to the aforementioned topics. The inclusion of historical sources is considered a requirement.
Please send a 250 words abstract until 1 August 2014 per email to:
fashionworkshop.dhi@gmail.com
Participants will be informed by 15 August 2014 about the results.
Costs for accommodation over the course of the workshop and travel expenses (to some extent) of invited speakers will be covered by the organizers.