Women of 'Little Paris'
Subtitle: Fashion in Interwar Bucharest
Series: Dress Cultures
Publisher: Bloomsbury Visual Arts
Published: 12 December 2024
Place of publication: London and New York
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover, Ebook, Online
Number of pages: 256
ISBN-13: 9781350294455; 9781350294462; 9781350294479; 978-1-3502-9448-6
Copyright date: 2024
First sentence: Bucharest exists in the plural.
Description: Filling a gap in Eastern European fashion studies, this book presents middle-class women consuming fashion in the symbolic 'Little Paris' of interwar Bucharest, and examines how their material and cultural means supported the city's modernisation.

Combining archival research with personal archaeology, this interdisciplinary work explores Romania's reinvention as a modern state, focusing on middle-class women as they lived their lives - walking through the streets, at lavish events, at cafes and clubs, shopping, and working. Analysing largely unseen, unused written and visual texts, The Women of 'Little Paris' encourages exploration of new avenues for research, uniting scholars of Romanian culture, history and fashion and guiding readers through a forgotten, little explored world and, in so doing, adds to our understanding and knowledge of the global image of interwar fashion cultures and the emerging field of Romanian fashion studies.
Table of contents: title: Acknowledgements; title: 1. Introduction; title: 2. Mapping the interwar World; title: Inventing Greater Romania; title: Fashioning the Romanian Paradox; title: 3. Interwar Metropolitan and Urban Cultures; title: Women, Life, Fashion and Industry in the City; title: 'Little Paris': A National Rebirth Project; title: 4. From the Modern Girl to the New Woman; title: Gender Dynamics; title: Crafting the 'New Romanian Woman'; title: 5. Authors and Characters: Women in Literature; title: Fictional Women, Real Bucharests; title: Diaries, Memoirs, Biographies; title: 6. From Subjects to Creators: Women Imagined in the Arts; title: Portraying Fashion; title: Performing Fashion; title: 7. Transition to New Visual Forms: Film, Photography; title: Fashioning the Silver Screen; title: “Pictured with Nose Up, like Moms Wanted”; title: 8. Conclusion; title: Bibliography; title: Appendix; title: Index