How to Make a Mao Suit

Erscheinungsjahr 2023
ISBN: 978-1-009-35995-5
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 376 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 685 g

Reihe: Cambridge Studies in the History of the People's Republic of China

When the People's Republic of China was founded in 1949, new clothing protocols for state employees resulted in far-reaching changes in what people wore. In a pioneering history of dress in the Mao years (1949–1976), Antonia Finnane traces the transformation, using industry archives and personal stories to reveal a clothing regime pivoted on the so-called 'Mao suit'. The time of the Mao suit was the time of sewing schools and sewing machines, pattern books and homemade clothes. It was also a time of close economic planning, when rationing meant a limited range of clothes made, usually by women, from limited amounts of cloth. In an area of scholarship dominated by attention to consumption, Finnane presents a revisionist account focused instead on production. How to Make a Mao Suit provides a richly illustrated account of clothing that links the material culture of the Mao years to broader cultural and technological changes of the twentieth century.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Finnane, Antonia

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of figures; List of maps; List of tables; Acknowledgements; Technical notes; Introduction; 1. The Red Group tailors and the Zhongshan suit; 2. Notions and sewing tools; 3. Making zhifu; 4. Sewing like a girl; 5. Rationing; 6. The time of the sewing machine; 7. Pattern books I: origins, authors, readers; 8. Pattern books II: how to take a measurement; 9. What should Chinese women wear?; Conclusion; Appendices; Glossary; References; Index.

Über Autor(innen)

Finnane, Antonia
Antonia Finnane is honorary professorial fellow in history at the University of Melbourne. She is internationally known for her work on the history of dress and fashion in modern China.