Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and its Influence on the Chinese Fashion Style

HOW POLITICAL MOVEMENT INFLUENCES FASHION
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The study of fashion is an unlikely academic pursuit but the reality is that it is a central aspect in political movements. Political movements have been important events that have brought the plight of underprivileged people in society to the fore. For instance, the Civil Rights movement in the United States was a vital event to the realization of the challenges African Americans were facing. The essence of the movement was the much-needed feeling of black pride and more importantly, promote the sense of urgency for equality. In the dire need to express their solidarity and support of this movement, black activists and supporters adorned symbolic hairstyles, accessories, and clothing. The primary objective in the use of the fashion strategy was to highlight the pride African Americans had in their heritage. Even further, the activists and supporters were sending a subtle but clear message that the African identity was not to be undermined. Politics and fashion have been fused for a very long time. Fashion has enhanced political events and in retrospective, political events have influenced fashion highly. In the subsequent text, greater analysis is provided on the great proletarian Cultural Revolution in China, the Black Panther Party, Afro-futurism, and the Chanel firm and their ultimate influence on fashion.[Vargas, Mary. "Fashion Statement or Political Statement: The Use of Fashion to Express Black Pride during the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements of the 1960’s." Undergraduate Review 5, no. 1 (2009), p.95.]
Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and its Influence on the Chinese Fashion Style
The Great Cultural Revolution in China, which began in 1966 and took a decade was an idea borne from the Mao Zedong who is highly regarded as the father of Modern China. Zedong was the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CPP) and used his position and popularity to eliminate what he called the “Four Olds.” These included old ideas, old habits, old culture, and old customs. In his ideal world, the true enemies to the Chinese were those individuals against socialist progress. The adoption of capitalism would be a significant betrayal to the Chinese state and Party bureaucracies. Within a year, Zedong had mobilized hundreds of youths to millions of them, mainly students, who were set to counter any foreign mentalite, traditional customs, reactionary or counter-revolutionary ideas, and practices that were against the progress of socialism. The significance of this event is apparent in the more than one million casualties and approximately 16 million individuals that were banished to the countryside. The after-effects of the event included much torture and humiliation to the residents, seizure of property, and imprisonment of many people. China was a shattered country with a society that was in total chaos and more so, a devastated economy. Nevertheless, the legacy of this revolution is still intact in China. The youth’s apparel advanced uniformity among the Red Guards and more importantly, it imposed their identity.[Bendini, Roberto. 2016. Europarl.Europa.Eu. /RegData/etudes/IDAN/2016/570470/EXPO_IDA%282016%29570470_EN.pdf]
During the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards wore military uniforms because of their superior material and appealing colors. The Red Guards popularized the fashion for the military attire, which proliferated to the educated youths, and eventually, it became popular throughout China. Many factors are attributed to the immense popularity of these uniforms during this period. Firstly, during turbulent times in a nation, during either war or economic hardship, standardized clothing are prevalent because of the scarcity of materials. The case in China corresponds to the one in England during the Second World War where there was mass production of one-style utility shoes and dresses among other garments. The military design of clothing in China was referred to as the Zhongshan style. Therefore, economic deprivation was one of the most influential factors in the spread of this sense of fashion.[Kong, Xurong. "Military Uniform as a Fashion during the Cultural Revolution." Intercultural Communication Studies 17, no. 2 (2008), p.287]
Secondly, political discipline was also another major factor. It is not every youth that would become a member of the Red Guard as the leaders prioritized class purity. Once recruited, a youth would fall into one of the three primary categories: the five black types, the red peripherals, or the five red types. Being a privilege to be in this group, individuals regarded their mode of dressing as an essential element. The level of importance attached to the apparel implies that its fashion sense gained popular acclaim. Finally, the uniformity in the military apparel emphasized gender equality. The uniforms did obscure the differences that did exist between men and women. In some sense, it was a vehicle for equality.[Sun, Peidong. "The Collar Revolution: Everyday Clothing in Guangdong as Resistance in the Cultural Revolution." The China Quarterly 227 (2016), p.777.] [Kong (2008, p.297)]
Black Panther Party
Initially known as the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, the Black Panther Party was founded in 1966 as a counter-measure defense mechanism of the African American community against the aggressive administrative authorities. Unjustified killings of many African Americans and more so, the assassination of the Black Nationalist Malcolm X provoked Huey Newton and Bobby Seale to initiate the movement. The administrative organs were perceived to be racists and discriminated against the black community. The group, which comprised of about 2,000 members at its peak, was familiar to the citizens for their adornment of black berets and black leather jackets. The movement was adamant that only Marxism would prevail as capitalism favored the rich and more so, those with dynastical wealth in their family line. As the war involved great combat between the members of the movement and the police, most of the individuals were armed ready to go to war at any moment if such a circumstance arose. More importantly, for them is that they were would wear combat boots and camouflage clothes.["Black Panthers". 2019. "Black Panthers". HISTORY. /topics/civil-rights-movement/black-panthers] [Heynen, Nik. "Bending the bars of empire from every ghetto for survival: the Black Panther Party's radical antihunger politics of social reproduction and scale." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 99, no. 2 (2009), p.412.]
The most predominant image is of them holding rifles. As Heynen continues to note, their children could never fall asleep in class or cry from stomach cramps signifying of how alert they were for they were oblivious of when the ‘enemy’ would strike.
Discrimination in the US is still a contentious issue that elicits a mixed opinion from various quarters. However, the most successful black individuals have taken their platform to support related injustices. One approach is the frequent use of traditional modes of cloth design to fuse the frenzy and seek solidarity among blacks. Beyoncé Knowles, one of the most popular female artists in the US, has a massive following implying that anything she does becomes the center of conversations besides the fact that influences culture in a significant way. In support of the Black Panther Party movement and its objectives on racial grounds, the female artist performed at the Super Bowl adorned in black berets with gold linings crisscrossing her chest reminiscent of the bullet rounds that feature among soldiers at war.
Further, her dancers got in an X formation, which the audience discerned an...