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

This book fills some of the gaps in the literature on Chinese dress since the start of the Reform era. It was interesting to get a Chinese perspective on some of the issues of national identity and dress, along with what it meant to be "fashionable" both during and after the Cultural Revolution. (I'm really not sure what the one reviewer who remarked that this book "endorses an imperialistic view" is talking about. The author details the debates that were occurring in China at the time over whether Westernization meant modernization -- many Chinese obviously did subscribe to this view.) The whole argument over Chinese national identity, national dress, modernization/Westernization is treated at length in the book.My one criticism would be that the chapter on fashion magazines and fashion in print drags on a little. All in all, though, it is a well-written book that provides a lot of new material (at least outside of China) and needed context. A good supplement would be Steele & Major's "China Chic: East Meets West."

This book claims to provide an overview of Chinese fashion from the beginning of the Reform period to the present. It more or less does cover that period, but the perspective is rather descriptive and shallow, with little in the way of analysis. There are factual mistakes, for instance the assertion that China lacked a national dress "in an era of globalisation" as opposed to India, Japan or Korea (p. 103). It also endorses the imperialistic view that modernity is inherently Western, with geographical difference represented as a difference in time, that is, the 'primitive' versus 'the more evolved'. Appalling really. On this topic, Antonia Finnane's  Changing Clothes in China: Fashion, History, Nation  is far better, and other chapters on China in anthologies such as  Re-Orienting Fashion: The Globalization of Asian Dress (Dress, Body, Culture) and  Consuming Fashion: Adorning the Transnational Body (Dress, Body, Culture) also published by Berg engage with more ambitious argumentation while also providing examples of rigorous, thorough, well-researched scholarship. Either of these is highly recommended instead of this book.

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.

Very good book

good!

Good book