The International Politics of Fashion: Being Fab in a Dangerous World (Popular Culture and World Politics)

This book seeks to address and fill a puzzling omission in contemporary critical IR scholarship. Following on from the aesthetic turn in IR, critical and ‘postmodern'IR has produced an impressive array of studies into movies, literature, music and art and the way these media produce, mediate, and represent international politics. By contrast, the proponents of the aesthetic turn have overlooked fashion as a source of knowledge about global politics.Yet stories about the political role of fashion abound in the news media. Margaret Thatcher used dress to define her political image, and more recently the fascination with Michelle Obama, Carla Bruni and other women in similar positions, and the discussions about the appropriateness of their wardrobes, regularly makes the news. In Sudan, a female writer and activist successfully challenged the government over her right to wear trousers in public and in Europe, the debate on women's headscarves has politicised a garment item and turned it into a symbol of fundamentalism and oppression. In response, the contributors to this book investigate the politics of fashion from a variety of perspectives, addressing theoretical as well as empirical issues, establishing the critical study of fashion and its protagonists as a central contribution to the aesthetic turn in international politics.The politics of fashion go beyond these examples of the uses and abuses of textiles and fabrics for political purposes, extending into its very ‘grammar'and vocabulary. This book will be a unique contribution to the field and will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, critical IR theory and popular culture and world politics. This book seeks to address and fill a puzzling omission in contemporary critical IR scholarship. Following on from the aesthetic turn in IR, critical and postmodern IR has produced an impressive array of studies into movies, literature, music and art and the way these media produce, mediate, and represent international politics. By contrast, the proponents of the aesthetic turn have overlooked fashion as a source of knowledge about global politics. Yet stories about the political role of fashion abound in the news media. Margaret Thatcher used dress to define her political image, and more recently the fascination with Michelle Obama, Carla Bruni and other women in similar positions, and the discussions about the appropriateness of their wardrobes, regularly makes the news. In Sudan, a female writer and activist successfully challenged the government over her right to wear trousers in public and in Europe, the debate on womens headscarves has politicised a garment item and turned it into a symbol of fundamentalism and oppression. In response, the contributors to this book investigate the politics of fashion from a variety of perspectives, addressing theoretical as well as empirical issues, establishing the critical study of fashion and its protagonists as a central contribution to the aesthetic turn in international politics. The politics of fashion go beyond these examples of the uses and abuses of textiles and fabrics for political purposes, extending into its very grammar and vocabulary. This book will be a unique contribution to the field and will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, critical IR theory and popular culture and world politics. 3 Orientalism refashioned: 'Eastern moon' in 'Western waters' reflecting back on the East China Sea -- Introduction -- Said's Orientalism -- Negative Orientalism -- Grey flannel America versus Mao jacket China -- Positive Orientalism -- Negative/positive entwinements -- Buddhist kōans -- Lagerfeld in China -- The Diaoyutai-Senkaku Islands dispute -- Kōanizing Sino-Japanese relations -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 4 Fashion statements: Wearing trousers in Sudan -- Introduction -- Wearing trousers and public order -- 'This is not about trousers' -- Identity, dress and society -- Conclusion Notes -- References -- 5 (Un)dressing the sovereign: Fashion as symbolic form -- Introduction -- Sovereignty as symbolic form -- Fashioning sovereignty -- Portrait of Louis XIV by Hyacinthe Rigaud -- Gendering the sartorial form of sovereignty -- The gendered nature of sovereign splendour -- Sartorial code and sartorial opprobrium -- Fashion diplomacy and imperial sovereignty -- Conclusion -- Unmasking the sovereign -- Notes -- References -- 6 The evolution of Somali women's fashion during changing security contexts -- Introduction -- Precolonial Somali society -- Colonialism and independence The civil war and first international intervention -- Political Islam and the 'War on Terror' -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 7 Margaret Thatcher, dress and the politics of fashion -- Introduction -- Dress, women and politics -- The performativity of dress -- The 'Iron Lady' and dress -- Dress, Hollywood and glamour -- Margaret Thatcher in the public gaze -- Dress and performances of power -- Embodying domestic and international power -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 8 Fashion studies takes on politics -- Introduction -- Situating fashion studies -- Uncovering fashion -- Bodies Half Title -- Series Information -- Endorsement -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of contents -- List of figures -- List of contributors -- Foreword -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Fashion and the performativity of the political -- Fashion as an ambiguous semiotic system -- Structure of the book -- Notes -- References -- 1 This is not a mannequin: Enfashioning bodies of resistance -- Introduction -- Enfashioning technologies of the self and performativity -- The body: absorptive and resistant -- This is not a mannequin -- The mannequin: a contrapuntal/juxtapositional figure Enfashioning the body -- Dressing mannequins of resistance -- Conclusion -- Enfashioning bodies, perfomative resistances -- Notes -- References -- 2 The art of (un)dressing dangerously: The veil and/as fashion -- Introduction -- Conceptualizing bodies and Islamic fashion -- Four scenarios of (un)dressing dangerously -- 'Burqa bans' and 'What not to wear' -- Veil fashionistas and their malcontents -- Artists' interventions -- Naked protests: undressing dangerously -- Bodies in world politics after 9/11 -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References