The National Fabric: Fashion, Britishness, Globalization

Description

British fashion is characterized by oppositions: punk versus pageantry, anarchy versus monarchy, Cool Britannia versus Rule Britannia. Why has British fashion come to be so contradictory? How are these contradictions employed to 'sell British'? What do they mean for consumers who 'buy British'? Through an examination of iconic fashion companies Paul Smith and Mulberry, The National Fabric provides telling insights into the culture of contemporary fashion and the dilemmas of 'going global'. Goodrum argues that 'Britishness' is characterized less through a particular look than through its ambiguities. She shows how the apparently straightforward and economically-driven process of globalizing British fashion is, in fact, far more culturally nuanced and locally embedded than has previously been suggested. In examining the interplay between fashion and Britishness, Goodrum redresses a longstanding omission in fashion theory, which has been preoccupied with class, gender and race than with national identity.

Alison Goodrum is Lecturer in Fashion Theory in the department of Clothing Design and Technology at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.

"The National Fabric' sheds new light on Britain's position in the global market place, and uncovers not only the paradoxical nature of the British fashion industry, but of the very sense of nationhood. By combining the scholarly approaches of cultural geography and fashion theory Alison Goodrum offers original and crucial insights into the contemporary, international culture of fashion, its dilemmas and the industry it supports.' Hazel Clark, Parsons School of Design, New York "The National Fabric' provides an important new approach to the analysis of fashion. ... This book will no doubt provide new ground for further interpretation and research into the geography of fashion.' Laura Jocic, Context: the Journal of the New Zealand Costume and Textile Section of the Auckland Museum Institute