CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Funaki, Sakino |
|---|---|
| Title | Styling Socialist Consumption: Discourses of Sartorial Appearance in the 1960s Yugoslav Women's Magazine Bazar |
| Summary | This paper explores attempts to define a modern, socialist manner of consumption by analyzing representations and discussions of the Yugoslav women’s magazine Bazar. In the socialist state, women’s magazines were supposed to contribute to the socialization of women, educating the readers on what was valued in society. As the material conditions gradually improved in the postwar period, they assumed the role of navigating new lifestyles for women who appreciated material well-being. Fashion became one of their central concerns because sufficient clothing was to be granted to the population not only as an essential need but also as a token of civilization. Consumption of clothing can serve both as a marker of belonging to a group and as a mirror of social distinctions. Therefore, it turned out to be a field of vigorous attempts to establish a socialist style to demonstrate their achieved modernity, balancing the egalitarian principles and manifestation of individual and social distinctions. Through the analysis of their coverage, this study aims to investigate what was envisaged as the socialist style and why individuals, especially women in this case, were constructed as consumers in the socialist context of Yugoslavia. Female concerns about outfits were involved in their advancement in society. As new entrants to public life, women were required to cultivate their aesthetic understanding and adapt their cultural sophistication into daily moderate forms, not threatening conventional ideals of feminine beauty. Thus, an appreciation of high aesthetic standards was embedded in the project of creating new socialist women. Yugoslav designers endeavored to incorporate the dominant, transnational influence of haute couture into the domestic context and to make them an essential component of the socialist expression of modernity. However, by celebrating haute couture as a peak of aesthetics, they practically justified the hierarchical structure of cultural dominance that seems antithetical to their egalitarian claims. Although socialist fashion needed to meet high-quality standards and be accessible to everyone at the same time, Yugoslav production and retail systems were not coordinated to fulfill those requiring ideological tasks. The disparity between proposals in display and limitations in production and distribution was never bridged, which provoked severe discontent and frustration among the population. Nevertheless, the women’s magazine continued raising the expectations for better quality and appearance of produced goods under the name of cultural education to cultivate the citizens’ tastes in a proper, rational direction. The realization of the socialist fashion style was claimed as a right and a moral obligation for women. Therefore, the domestic industry was obliged to offer desirable products to meet the needs. When manufacturers could not fulfill their responsibilities, the editors criticized them instead of problematizing the increased demands from the readers. The needs and desires of contemporary consumers were turned into reasonable requests of socialist citizens in the magazine’s narratives. |
| Supervisor | Shinohara, Taku |
| Department | History MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/funaki_sakino.pdf |
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