Chinese Fashion: From Mao to Now (Dress, Body, Culture) Review

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(More customer reviews)I came to this book through research on the arts in modern China. The book takes you through the arc of development of modern Chinese fashion from the Cultural Revolution through the present, but Wu also (necessarily) covers the history of the development of the qipao and the search for a modern, national dress that would encapsulate Chinese identity. In many ways, the book tells the story of post-Mao China through the controversies and changes that surrounded dress as China opened up to Western influence. I was most interested in the chapter on fashion designers and getting the designers' takes on what it was they were creating. Also, Wu delineates the development of the fashion industry and fashion system in modern China (from tailors to designers, the fashion model, magazines, TV shows, pop stars and their influence on fashion, etc.) A few other books touch on modern Chinese fashion (like "China Chic" and "Changing Clothes in China"), but they focus either on the Imperial/Republican eras or the Cultural Revolution. "Chinese Fashion from Mao to Now" focuses on the post-Mao period, but as I said, it does provide a grounding in the historical developments that came before the reform period. 5 stars.

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How has fashion mirrored the social and cultural changes that have taken place in modern China? To what extent has fashion contributed to those changes? This book provides the first comprehensive account of modern Chinese fashion from 1978 to the present day. The post-Mao era witnessed the birth of the Chinese market economy, the reawakening of Chinese fashion, and the rejuvenation of Chinese society. The program of economic reform turned China into the world's leading manufacturing powerhouse, and the Chinese fashion industry now plays a key international role. During the same period, Western companies discovered China as a significant market for branded fashion and luxury goods. This book, which takes a chronological approach, offers an analysis of the development of the Chinese fashion industry as well as an analysis of the relationship between dress, gender, identity and consumption in contemporary China. As such it will be welcomed by all students of fashion and textiles.

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