The Chinese Fashion Industry: An Ethnographic Approach

Description

Less than three decades ago, when the Chinese bought cloth or clothes, they would have had to use a government-issued coupon. Today the Chinese fashion industry is one of the most dynamic in the world - it not only supplies fashions to the increasingly discerning domestic market, but also provides one-third of the clothing sold in the global market. How did this phenomenal transition come about? What can the growth of the Chinese fashion industry tell us about the post-Mao China? What roles do the local and the global play in the dramatic changes? This book offers a historically informed, ethnographically grounded and interpretive analysis of contemporary Chinese fashion and the fashion industry. It examines the interplay of state politics, market forces, local social and cultural factors, and the global political economy, both in the rise of the Chinese fashion industry and in the life and work of Chinese fashion professionals. As the first ethnographic account of the Chinese fashion industry in the post-Mao era, The Chinese Fashion Industry combines first-hand accounts with sophisticated cultural analysis to offer new insights, and will be of interest to students and scholars of fashion, anthropology and China. The Chinese Fashion Industry Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgements 1 Introduction PART 1 RISE OF THE CHINESE FASHION INDUSTRY 2 The Growth of Chinese Textile and Apparel Industries: Is It Just an Illustration of Modernization? 3 What Do Changing Chinese Fashions Really Tell Us? PART 2 CREATING FASHION IN CHINA 4 Designing a National Style: The Tangzhuang Phenomenon 5 For the Sake of Art or for the Market? The Cultural Economy of Fashion Design 6 Creating Fashion on the Runway, Chinese Style 7 Making Clothes for International Markets: A Clothing Perspective on Globalization 8 Conclusion: Clothing, Modernization, and Globalization Notes Bibliography Index