Fashion, Popular Culture and Political Economy

Nirupama Singh Dar

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781040256985
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Design
• Subtopic: Popular Culture in Art

This book delves into the intricate interplay of political, economic, and philosophic forces that have shaped popular culture, fashion, social movements and societies. Exploring the developments of the twentieth century and the transition into the new millennium, this work traces the causality between culture, fashion, philosophical discourses, and political economy. It analyzes political-economic and philosophical factors to demonstrate how fashion emerges as a pivotal force that guides and shapes post-modern democratic societies and market economies.

The volume weaves together insights from sociology, cultural studies, feminist studies, fashion history, cinematography, media, the entertainment industry and social policy research. It examines how postmodern societies, shaped by post-structuralist critique and neo-liberal ideologies, navigates the complexities of democracy and market economies, evolving from deeply entrenched systems of colonialism and feudalism to achieve modernization and massive technological progress and reach a social reality of postmodernist paradigms.

Topical and lucid, this invigorating work shows how fashion leads to social engineering. It will be of interest to scholars and researchers of fashion studies, popular culture, cultural studies, sociology, gender studies, political economy and political studies. This book also provides valuable perspectives for policymakers, film critics, women's rights groups, social policy researchers, film censor boards and journalists.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 Foundations of Popular Culture and Fashion in Capitalist Societies
• 2 Capitalism’s Favorite Child, ‘Fashion’, Theorized
• 3 Fashion’s Blistering Ontologies: Paris: 1845 Onwards
• 4 Popular Culture in India at the Turn of the 19th Century: India’s Rise Against Anti-Dance Laws of British Rule and the Birth of the Dance Movement in India
• 5 Beginning of the Indian National Movement and Rise of Ghadar Party on America’s West Coast and Their Contribution to India’s Freedom
• 6 The Rise of Bloomsbury Bohemians in England and Their Contribution to the End of English Colonialism
• 7 The Beginning of the Global Feminist Movement and Its Iconization in the Gibson Girl and the New Woman
• 8 The End of the First World War and the Rise of Popular Culture in the West: The Flapper: First Look Emerging from the Break between Ancient Times and Modernity
• 9 Birth of Modern Haute Couture: The Rise of Three Fashion Icons in Paris: Coco Chanel, Elsa Schiaperelli and Christian Dior
• 10 Hollywood and Fashion: The Rise of Fashion’s Romantic Hero ‘Christian Dior’
• 11 Manhattan Project, Atomic Bombings, War’s End, Rise of Hate Politics and Its Effects on American Society, Hollywood from 1940s Onwards
• 12 Literature and Philosophy Changing Societies: The Beat Generation and the Impact of Existentialism on Popular Culture in the United States (1940s–1950s)
• 13 Cold War Escalations, JFK and the Birth of the Hippie Movement (1940s–1960s): The Epiphany of War and Peace: Circumstances Building Up to the Making of the Nuclear Arsenal and the Birth of the Hippie Movement
• 14 Introduction of Yves Saint Laurent to the Haute Couture Industry and the Democratization of Fashion
• 15 The Arrival of Balenciaga, Balmain and Givenchy on the Fashion Scene and the Return of Coco to Paris (1950s)
• 16 The Coming of Karl Lagerfeld, André Courrèges, Valentino, Mary Quant and Paco Rabanne Onto the 1960s Fashion Scene
• 17 From Monique Wittig to the Material Girl: The Rewriting of the Feminist Epistemology (1960s-1990s)
• 18 From Objectification to the #MeToo Movement: Models, Barbies and Playboy Politics (1960s–2024)
• 19 The Unshackling of the Body and Changing of Social Mores (the 1980s)
• 20 Rise of a New World: The Fall of the Berlin Wall and Apartheid and the End of the Age of Supermodels (1980s–1990s)
• 21 India: The Coming of Liberalization and the End of the Licence Raj (1990s and Onwards)
• 22 Bollywood: From Existential Angst to Postmodernism of Resistance: 1980s–2000s and Onwards
• 23 Postmodernism and the Threats to Liberal Democracy at the Turn of the Millennium (1989–2001)
• 24 Demystifying Love: Theoretical Underpinnings of Sexuality, Fashion and Popular Culture
• 25 Future of Fashion: How the Coming Together of Two Women Changed the World Forever: From 2016 Onward
• 26 The MeToo Movement and the Coming of Feminism to Hollywood and the Corporate World: 2017 onward
• 27 Conclusion: The Disambiguation of Plato and the Repositioning of Medusa, Apsaras and Devis: 2025 and the Road Ahead
• Index