Fashion and Styles in African Cities. Case Studies from Douala and Lagos

这个跨学科项目位于艺术史、艺术人类学以及时尚和纺织研究的交叉点，其目的是以杜阿拉和拉各斯为例，揭示时尚与城市之间的多方面相互关系。城市化的重要性早已被认识到，部分研究，在欧美背景下的时尚发展方面。然而，迄今为止，还没有任何学者从经验和理论上证明非洲时尚世界与城市文化之间的纠缠交织关系。我们采用了一种方法，y确定的历史联系和区域差异，包括艺术史，民族志和文化研究方法。因此，时尚不会像通常那样被批评为肤浅和虚荣。相反，与Nuttal（2008）的创新工作保持一致，时尚被理解为当代文化重要领域之间的界面。本着这一精神，该项目有四个相关的案例研究。每个人都将研究大都市时尚实践的不同方面，并在特定的生产，身份建设系统的设计。这个出发点产生了关于时尚的美学和象征方面及其语境化以及媒体呈现的问题。这座城市--它的视觉文化，它独特的历史--是如何融入时尚的？有限的资源和缺乏国家支持如何体现在时装业的生产中，以及真正的城市美学中？为了与“空间转向”保持一致，这也是时尚研究中采用的一种策略，我们探讨了时尚的特定场所，其美学和特定场所的呈现形式。进一步的研究问题涉及特定的时尚世界及其参与者：时尚在城市中产阶级、精英和青年文化的身份和自我表现的构建中扮演什么角色？此外，我们认为，时装设计师和生产商的跨国关系，全球化进程沿着新媒体和在线社交网络的日益重要性。该合作项目由四项单独研究组成。A. Schemmel讲述了杜阿拉时尚的历史、美学和实践。相应地，在案例研究二中，B. Ndjio（杜阿拉大学）研究了时尚作为城市青年社会区分的一种手段。此外，M。奥伯霍费尔将贡献一个历史的角度，分析时尚摄影在杜阿拉。第三个案例研究（H. Mezger）致力于传记，美学和城市参考的时装生产商在拉各斯，在当地和跨国背景。第四，联合案例研究F。Ugiomoh（哈科特港大学）和K. Pinther研究了自20世纪60年代以来时尚在杂志、照片和时尚博客中的媒介表现。

The aim of this interdisciplinary project, which is situated at the intersection of art history, anthropology of art and fashion and textile studies, is to uncover the multifaceted interrelationships between fashion and urbanity using the examples of Douala and Lagos. The importance of urbanity has long been recognized and, in part, researched, in terms of the development of fashion in the Euro-American context. However, no scholarship has, as yet, empirically and theoretically demonstrated the entangled interwoven relationships between fashion worlds and urban cultures in Africa. We employ a methodology that y to identify the historical connections and regional differences encompasses art historical, ethnographic and cultural studies approaches. Thus, fashion will not be critiqued, as is so often the case, as superficial and vain. Rather, in keeping with Nuttal's (2008) innovative work, fashion is understood as an interface between significant spheres of contemporary culture. In this spirit the project has four related case studies. Each will examine different aspects of metropolitan fashion practices and designs within site-specific systems of production, identity construction. This starting point generates questions regarding the aesthetic and symbolic aspects of fashion and its contextualization as well as medial presentations. How is the city - its visual culture, its specific history - inscribed into fashion? How do limited resources and the lack of state support manifest within the fashion sector in production, as well as in a genuine urban aesthetic? In keeping with a "spatial turn", a strategy that has been adopted in fashion studies as well, we inquire into the specific places of fashion, its aesthetic and its site-specific forms of presentation. Further research questions speak to specific fashion worlds and its actors: What role does fashion play in the construction of identity and self-representation of the urban middle class, the elite and youth culture? Furthermore, we consider the transnational relationships of fashion designers and producers, processes of globalization along with the growing importance of new media and online social networks. This cooperative project is composed of four individual studies. A. Schemmel addresses the history, aesthetics and practice of fashion in Douala. Correspondingly, in case study two, B. Ndjio (University of Douala) examines fashion as a means of social distinction for urban youths. Additionally, M. Oberhofer will contribute a historical perspective, analyzing fashionable photography in Douala. The third case study (H. Mezger) is dedicated to the biographies, aesthetics and the urban references of fashion producers in Lagos, in both local and transnational contexts. In the fourth, joint case study F. Ugiomoh (University of Port Harcourt) and K. Pinther research the medial representation of fashion in magazines, photographs and fashion blogs since the 1960s.