Simona Segre Reinach
The shifting interests in Sino-Italian Fashion Collaborations
Simona Segre Reinach
University of Bologna
simona.segre@gmail.com
Bio
Simona Segre Reinach is cultural anthropologist and professor of Fashion Studies at Bologna University. She has done field work in China, contributing to a collaborative study in Cultural Anthropology on Sino-Italian joint - ventures in the field of textile and fashion. She has written on fashion from a global perspective in the books, such as Berg Encyclopedia of World Dress and Fashion (2010), The Fashion History Reader (2010), Made in Italy: Rethinking a Century of Italian Design (2013), and Fashion Media: Past and Present (2014), as well as published articles in Fashion Theory, Fashion Practice, Business and Economic History, and Critical Studies in Fashion and Beauty. She has published four books in Italian, of which the latest is Un Mondo di mode: Il vestire globalizzato.(Laterza 2011).
In the wake of her economic success, fashion has become a new accessory to China on both production and consumption level. The active exchange between the West and China stimulates production and consumption of a hybrid style which has form part of the identities of Chinese fashion, as pointed out in many recent works on contemporary Chinese fashion. But China has also a role in reshaping Western fashion. If China's new role as a consumer is frequently underlined, as opposed to that of manufacturer, little has been written on how international fashion production in China presents ambivalences right from the manufacturing stage. China has a relevant role in determining global fashion. It is a complex process blurring the boundaries between Chinese and Western fashion systems, and disavowing essentialism on both sides. The paper deals with the specific relation between China and Italy in the process of "fashion making". It refers to a collaborative study (2002-2010) in Cultural Anthropology on Sino-Italian joint ventures and other kind of work collaborations between Italian and Chinese in the textile and fashion field.
To the extent possible under law, all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this Work, Simona Segre Reinach, by Angela Jansen are Reserved.
