Fashion in Multiple Chinas - (Dress Cultures) by Wessie Ling & Reina Lewis & Simona Segre-Reinach & Elizabeth Wilson (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The transformation of China from a major site for clothing manufacture to an intensely fashion consuming society has been widely documented. Less has been written about the making of Chinese fashion. In Fashion in Multiple Chinas, expert authors explore how a multitude of Chinese fashions operate across the widespread, fragmented and diffused Chinese diaspora. They challenge the idea of Chinese nationalism as 'one nation', as well as of China as a single reality, revealing the realities of Chinese fashion as diverse and comprising multiple practices. They also demonstrate how the making of Chinese fashion is composed of numerous layers, often involving a web of global entanglements between manufacturing and circulation, retailing and branding. Chapters cover the mechanics of the PRC fashion industry, the creative economy of Chinese fashion, its retail and branding, and the cultural identity of Chinese fashion from the diasporas comprising the transglobal landscape of fashion production.

About the Author

Wessie Ling is Professor of Transcultural Art and Design at London Metropolitan University and the Director of the Research Centre for Creative Arts, Cultures and Engagement (CREATURE). She was ASEAN Research Fellow at Mahidol University, Rita Bolland Fellow at Nationaal Museum van Wereculturen and inaugural Research Fellow at LASALLE College of the Arts. Author of Fusionable Cheongsam, she has written widely on fashion making of China. Her co-edited special journal issues include Modern Italy on 'Italianerie: Transculturality, Co-creation and Transforming Identities between Italy and Asia', and ZoneModa Journal on 'Global Fashion, and Fashion Theory', and The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture on 'Global China'. She serves on the editorial board of Critical Studies in Fashion & Beauty, Clothing Cultures, and ZoneModa Journal. She is the co-editor of the long running series, Studies in Design and Material Culture.

Simona Segre-Reinach is cultural anthropologist and associate professor of Fashion Studies at Bologna University. She has written on fashion from a global perspective in the books such as Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion, The Fashion History Reader, Fashion Media: Past and Present, Biki. French Visions for Italian Fashion, and The Cambridge Global History of Fashion. She is a member of the Editorial Board of Fashion Theory, Critical Studies in Fashion and Beauty, Anthem Studies in Fashion, Dress Cultures and China Matters. She curated the fashion exhibitions '80's-90's Facing Beauties. Italian Fashion and Japanese Fashion at a Glance' at Rimini Museum, 'Jungle: The Imagery of Animals in Fashion' at Torino Venaria Reale and 'Rodrigo Pais Sguardi sulla moda' at Bologna BUB.