The article considers Gianna Manzini's 'La moda e una cosa seria ' (La Donna, 1935, July, 36-37) as a forerunner of current scholarly approaches to fashion in general and Italian fashion in particular, for three reasons. First, it asserts the importance of a gendered history of fashion; second, it argues for the importance of boundaries and lines of demarcation in the study of fashion that do not pertain solely to time but also to fields, disciplines and the other arts, as well as social and political domains; third, it raises the question of the relationship between fashion and nation. In examining how and when to establish the beginning or the origin of Italian fashion, the article argues for a long history of Italian fashion that stretches as far back as early modernity, thus reframing a number of historiographical questions. The article goes on to signal the difficulty involved in establishing neat points of ruptures and origins, and continuities in any historical or cultural spectrum in view of the porosity of national boundaries; and makes the case for considering fashion, both today's and that of yesteryear, in both its national and transnational dimensions.
No abstract
An Istituto Luce documentary entitled La Grande adunata delle forze femminili (Great parade of female forces) illustrates the ambivalent policy of the fascist regime towards the roles and images of women and reveals links between fashion, the policy that governed it and political culture during the fascist regime. 1 The documentary describes a rally that took place in Rome on 28 May 1939, chronicling a massive female parade organised by Mussolini himself. This national gathering of women from all over Italy that celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the Fasci giovanili di combattimento was an occasion to display women as an integral part of the national body politic through their uniforms, and their roles in the family and society. The film shows women from the Red Cross, students, athletes from the Orvieto Academy representing a wide range of sports, women from the countryside and others, all gathered at the Circo Massimo before going on to parade to Piazza Venezia for the welcome salute and speech by Mussolini and other gerarchi. Three distinct moments of the documentary juxtapose shots of women wearing sports uniforms with shots of the women from the countryside wearing regional costumes. These stills (Figures 1, 2 and 3) illustrate the sharp contrast between the military-like uniformity of the athletes and the women in traditional regional costumes, but also the differences in dress within the latter group of women. Those in regional costume wear accessories such as necklaces, earrings, shawls, lace collars, ornaments and headgear. Their body postures differ from the women wearing the regime-sponsored or sports uniforms: they look as if they are out taking a walk rather than marching. For the majority of these women, the differences in ornamentation were signs of their sense of belonging to strong local traditions of fine artisan craftsmanship, something that
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.