The Urban Visual
Visual Aesthetic of National Identity: A Comparative Study of Fashion Photography in Italian and Russian Vogue Magazine
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Daria Müller Velasquez
The current research is devoted to the concepts of ‘Made in Italy’ and 'Made in Russia' and their roles in the building of national identity. The paper reflects on the ideas of articulation of national identity through the prism of fashion photography in Vogue Italia and Vogue Russia fashion magazines. In order to understand how the phenomenon of ‘Made in Italy’ and ‘Made in Russia’ can be characterized today, the study is focused on collecting relevant data and explaining how the ‘Italian’ and ‘Russian’ have been translated over the years and exported beyond the spatial confines of the nation. Besides, the paper sheds light on how creativity helped Italian and Russian Vogue magazines to represent the ‘nation’ and to become one of the most influenced fashion magazines in the world. The methodology employed in the paper includes expert interviews and a visual content analysis. The empirical base of the research begins with the very first issues of Vogue Italia and Vogue Russia, then goes through analyzing the essential issues, released in 1988 and 2008, and finally leads us to the deep understanding of the recently released issues. Specific creative strategies and their adaptation to the Italian and Russian market are being identified both qualitatively and quantitatively with the purpose to highlight the dominant characteristics of the ‘Made in Italy’ and ‘Made in Russia’ phenomenon in fashion industry.
Urban Trends and Reshaping Identities: Skin Bleaching as Fashion and Reflection of Societal Learning
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Petra Alaine Robinson
Colorism is a global problem and this study traces the historical trend associated with colorism and skin bleaching in the Caribbean island of Jamaica. It focuses on the findings of a qualitative research study that describes the hidden curriculum of skin bleaching and how participants learn to bleach as well as (re)shape their identities as bleachers in an urban setting.
Visualizing Vietnam and America: Remembering the Past and Present in Graphic Memoirs
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Lan Dong
This paper examines G. B. Tran’s Vietnamerica and Thi Bui’s The Best We Could Do in a comparative framework. Both graphic memoirs weave together the authors’ personal experience growing up in the United States with their familial history and the public history of the Vietnam War and its aftermath. Both books reveal the narrators’ feeling of disconnection with their refugee parents and with their Vietnamese heritage while growing up, their reactions to and experiences of visiting Vietnam as adults, and their efforts to piece together fragments of familial history. The authors’ narrative and artistic styles differ: Tran’s drawings favor a direct approach, vibrant colors, and explosive details while Bui’s work leans towards subtle storytelling, demure color tones, and quiet expressions. Collectively, these works help construct a new framework the historical narrative of the Vietnam War and contribute to the existing body of literary and cultural productions representing the complexity and nuances of Vietnamese American experience.
