Original scientific paper
ALTERNATIVE FASHION IN LATE SOCIALISM
Inga TOMIĆ-KOLUDROVIĆ
Abstract
This paper deals with a paradox: the activity of fashion
production, which by its very definition presupposes a large
number of users and the social recognition of its own
preconditions, could not be realized in the Eighties in the
social context of late socialism. During socialism, "alternative
fashion" was an inevitably hopeless production. Its exclusivity
lacked the credibility granted to western haute couture which
successfully lent its name to mass produced clothes. The
social standing of alternative fashion was rooted in the
individual expression of unique life-style, recognized by just a
handful of like-minded participants of one's own group. In
itself, it testified to the character of those practices as well as
to the social context in which it existed. The products of
"alternative" fashion born during socialist times denied the
whole system by their mere existence. By doing so, they
justified their alternative status at both a sociological and at
a political level. On the other hand, alternative fashion
because it was essentially useless and produced as individual
items, was stuck in the area traditionally defined as "art". It
did not even question the postmodern industrially defined re-
-interpretation of art.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
19896
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2001.
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