How Does Political Movements Influence Fashion

How do political movements influence fashion proposal annotated bibliography
Name
Jiayi Xie
Introduction
Under different political regimes there can be conformity in authoritarian administrations or support for individual expression in democratic societies, which can influence fashion choices. Political movements may be identified by certain fashion and clothes that represent their identity, and in the American society, fashion styles have changed with the times and reflect social changes and even attitudes. Political and social movements also disrupt traditional held views in democratic societies, and especially, when there is quest for equality, and people are more willing to embrace new trends and politically inspired fashion. The topic of how political movement such as the Cultural Revolution in China and Black Panther in the US influence fashion was selected after reviewing the history of fashion and increased focus of political statements in fashion and the arts.
The Chinese Cultural Revolution and Fashion
The Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) was dedicated to ending the old ideologies, culture and customs in China under a socialist/communist system. The Great Cultural Revolution under Chairman Mao Zedong was aimed at ending the bourgeoisie influence, old ideologies, culture and customs. The Cultural Revolution suppressed those who did not conform and the communist bureaucratic system ensured that those who did not follow the ideology were purged from the party. This partly influenced fashion where on one part there was uniformity in choice of fashion based on what were appropriate communist uniforms, but there was no official uniform for the masses and the Red Guard. As such, what became associated with the Cultural Revolution Uniforms was partly linked to the uniforms being aligned with the identity of revolutionary soldiers. If people were not appropriately dressed, they most likely would have been singled out and targeted in an environment was conformity was prioritized.
During the Cultural Revolution the Zhongsha/ Sun Yat-sen suit (Mao-suit jackets) and Mao badges were mostly similar but there were differences that could help identify gender. These suits and badges reflect loyalty to the party, and reflect conformity given that those who deviated from what was expected were punished. Despite there being individuality there were expectations that there would be uniformity, but even those who wore the traditional dresses could at times be considered counter-revolutionary if they were known political figures. One’s appearance could be used to indicate whether one supported the communist ideology and the Chinese revolution.
While fashion is still associated with extravagance, Chinese leaders are now more likely to wear western style clothes than during the Cultural Revolution era. Politics changes just like fashion, but adults were expected to wear the drab military like uniforms and the Red Guards could stop people because they did not wear acceptable fashion if it was considered ‘bourgeoisie’ style. During the Cultural Revolution, especially, in the west that there were perceptions that Mao-era clothing was homogenous. Even if the effectiveness of dress resistance was limited under Mao people did not always comply with mainstream dress conventions, and there was an element of individuality that influence fashion later as the country became less isolationist.[Peidong Sun, "The Collar Revolution: Everyday Clothing In Guangdong As Resistance In The Cultural Revolution", The China Quarterly 227 (2016): 775.]
Black Panther Party and Fashion
The Black Panther group was started 1966 until its 1982, but compared to other groups that emerged during the Civil Rights movement the organization was radical and advocated a Marxist system as the best way to guarantee the rights of the black people in America. The most common image of the Black Panther in the media and among the public is that of a young, aggressive man holding rifles. In reality, many members of the Black Panther Party were women. And some had roles as leaders. In theory, the party supported gender equality, but some women offered suffered both physical and sexual violence. Besides the support for self-defense and civil rights, the Black Panther Party inflected and still influences fashion
Since the Black Panther was first linked with urban black politics, community organization and the support for civil rights was more likely to influence the local politics of the urban areas. The youths were more likely to join or support the group, with university students among the groups that joined the organization. The youths tend to have a big influence on the fashion trends. Furthermore, the young adults are more willing to show their support for the openly including their choices of clothing. Nowadays, it is young artists who integrate some of their ideas in their songs and the art works including appropriating images
Methods
Questionnaires will be provided to the participants to understand their perspectives understanding about the role of politics in fashion and choice of clothes for those who are familiar and support the black panthers, participants will be recruited from around the university and political rallies after initially receiving mail requesting them to participate. Besides the questionnaires there is focus on political rallies and protests, and this would focus on where there are political undertones. The case for this approach is that there is no problem of non-responsive sample. There is also no need for extensive training when observing the people, and in protest people represent messages that they support or oppose, and there may be merging patterns on their fashion choices. Participant-observation and textual analysis are useful since the texts and content convey meaning that represents the ideas and views of members of the group. These approaches also help to determine how people construct identities via fashion and how politics influences their choice of dressing. However, interpretations pose a challenge and experts may be required to make observations and interpret.
Relevant questions focus on whether the clothes reflect the identity of the members, and who the members say they are. Fashion has been used to create and maintain identity, but what members say about themselves maybe different from what others say about them. Additionally what influences the clothing of the interviews for those who are affiliated with the Black Panther and its offshoots communicates the value and attitudes of the group members. Research on the group would further bolster or clarify the claims made about the use of clothing and fashion
In the case of China, the Cultural Revolution resulted in increased attempts to control what people wore and writings on how people were treated will be considered to identify the emerging themes in the Chinese regime. Because interviewing and observing the group is impossible, looking at writing son how fashion was regarded and people treated based on their dressing helps to evaluate how this influenced fashion then and now. For instance if one’s dress was considered to represent reactionary bourgeoisie they were more likely to be humiliated in public or punished.
Literature review
During the Cultural Revolution the regime influenced everyday dress habits, but despite the attempts to discourage western style clothes and those associated with culture, dress choice became one way to resist the regime. Sometimes resistance was unintentional, but marked out people based on their gender, origin and even religion, and photographs from the 1970s confirm that there were differences in dress choice even as Chinese civilians dressing was also associated with Mao suits and badges. Guangdong , which is close to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, was influenced by Weston dress choice is compared to other places in mainland China, and looking at how people dressed and fashion provides insight on differences in everyday dress choices. Officials in Maoist China singled out those who were different and there was great pressure to conform including in the choice of dressing. Fashion was largely unexplored, but the most common clothes and fashion reflected what the leaders wore.[Sun, 774-775]
Uniforms have been associated with order and discipline, as they convey and inspire status and rank in society. Different occupations, roles, characters and performances have been linked do men in uniforms, while certain elements of uniforms recur in fashion and contemporary culture. If there is freedom to choose whatever people want to wear there is less disapproval than in cases where expressiveness can result in one being judged as is the case of men who may want to look attractive, but fear being considered unmanly. Uniforms designate certain groups, and their links to certain organizations, and can help identify what groups or people associated with. Fo...