2:30-3:45 p.m.
Bonnie, Beene, and the Female Gangster
Mario J. Roman and Jacqueline Reich, Marist University
In 1967, Warner Brothers – Seven Arts released Bonnie and Clyde, which would become a landmark film. Starring Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty as the infamous gangsters on the run, first-time costumer Theodora Van Runkle dressed the pair in fabulous period-inspired costumes. On January 12, 1968, Life Magazine featured Dunaway on its cover as “Bonnie: Fashion’s New Darling,” wearing clothing inspired by the film. The story inside, “Bonnie’s Stylish Bang: Faye Dunaway Starts a ’30s Revival and Becomes Fashion’s New Darling”, showcased Dunaway in a myriad of nostalgia-evoking designs, including a Geoffrey Beene “pin-striped gangster suit.” In 1968, Geoffrey Beene released his “Mafia” Collection with “Alice Capone” imagined ensembles. Drawing on his Parisian couture training, Beene translated menswear suiting references such as Beatty’s character’s pinstriped suits into women’s fashions, some complete with gangster-tilted fedoras. The long history of reimagining menswear as womenswear becomes a shorthand for fashion designers seeking to create silhouettes that contribute to the visual discourse on female empowerment. Relying on primary, archival sources, including Marist’s recently acquired Dr. Sylvia M. Karasu Geoffrey Beene collection, this presentation unpacks the convergence of fashion and stardom across multiple media to address the foundational impact of the female gangster on American consumer culture at this moment in time and her legacy. The presentation asks: why then? What did the multimedia presence of the female gangster (and its widespread popularity) say to a populous on the brink of a cultural revolution? What role did fashion play on and off the screen in this resurgence? In addition, we look to unpack the chronology of Beene’s collection and Van Runkle’s designs. Were they mutually dependent phenomena, or were they an example of coincidental cultural convergence?
Black Diasporic Tribal Ink: Reclaiming the Cultural Narrative of Face Tattoos in a Colonial Context
Sha’Mira Covington, University of Georgia
Face tattooing in the Black diaspora is often stigmatized, associated with criminality, gang activity, and deviance (Caldwell, 2023). These interpretations starkly contrast with the cultural significance of African tribal tattoos and scarification, which historically served as markers of identity, social status, and spiritual connection (Garve et al., 2017). This paper explores the parallels between these traditions, arguing that both function as forms of cultural expression and identity construction. However, they are interpreted through divergent lenses shaped by colonial histories and systemic racism that perpetuate harmful stereotypes about Black bodies and cultural practices.
Using a decolonial framework (Smith, 2012) and intersectional race theory (Crenshaw, 2014), this study seeks to contextualize face tattooing as an act of cultural reclamation in the United States. The research draws on focus groups with individuals from the Black diaspora who have face tattoos, which enables an in-depth exploration of their lived experiences, motivations, and interpretations. This methodological approach aligns with collective community frameworks that emphasizes the importance of amplifying voices often excluded from traditional white Western fashion scholarship.
Findings reveal that face tattooing continues to operate as a space for cultural and personal identification within the Black diaspora and directly challenges Western frameworks that conflate such practices with deviance. Participants describe their tattoos as tribal in nature, connected to their diaspora ancestry, and personal expressions of life experience. The research points out the need to reframe face tattooing beyond stigmatized interpretations, situating it within broader discussions on race, identity, and decolonial aesthetics. The research also contributes to critical discourses on body art, cultural resistance, and the enduring legacies of colonialism in shaping perceptions of Blackness.
The Importance and Relevance of Black Media Professionals – Contemporary Voices in Fashion Media Studies
Giulia Baldini, Lehman College (CUNY)
This paper explores the pivotal role of three distinct contemporary Black media professionals (Elaine Welteroth, Edward Enninful, and Aurora James) in shaping the landscape of fashion media through fashion publications within the Afro-Atlantic diaspora. It examines how these individuals have not only contributed to but have also redefined representations of Black identity, style, and culture in both the fashion and media sectors. These individuals have not only contributed to but have also redefined representations of Black identity through the mid-2010s to the early 2020s marked the pinnacle of Black excellence in fashion media, driven by transformative leadership, cultural shifts, and systemic change.
The Symbolism of the Palestinian Keffiyeh in Fashion and Activism
Elif Kavakci, The University of Arizona
On March 16, 2024, two tourists, Ju-Hyun Park and Phuong, were denied entry to the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan for wearing keffiyehs. The keffiyeh, a traditional Palestinian headscarf with origins in ancient Mesopotamia and later linked to Kufa, Iraq, has evolved into a powerful symbol of social and political resistance. This incident underscores the intersection of fashion, politics, and activism, raising critical questions about clothing’s role in identity and protest.
This paper examines the keffiyeh’s historical roots, its evolution into a global symbol of resistance, and its impact on contemporary activism and fashion. Drawing on Roland Barthes’s “fashion system,” (1967) which explores how garments acquire meaning, and Matthew Fuller’s “media ecology,” (2005) which considers the cultural significance of objects through media, the study decodes the keffiyeh’s transformation from a traditional item to a global emblem of activism.
The keffiyeh gained international recognition in the late 20th century as a symbol for Palestinian rights in Western cities. More recently, its pattern has appeared in various forms, such as art, design, and nail art, driven by social media’s viral reach. While this diffusion highlights the keffiyeh’s adaptability, it also poses challenges to maintaining its cultural and political significance.
Today, the keffiyeh stands as a global symbol of solidarity and resistance. Its adoption by activists worldwide demonstrates how traditional attire can transcend borders, challenge oppression, and foster dialogue. This paper explores how the keffiyeh exemplifies the interplay of fashion, politics, and activism in shaping modern social movements.
The End of an Era: Body Positivity in the Age of Ozempic
Lauren Downing Peters, Ph.D., Columbia College Chicago
Throughout the twentieth century and even into the twenty-first, positive representations of fat women in the fashion media were scarce. Often relegated to advertisements for diet drugs or reducing corsets, the fat woman was fashion’s forgotten “Other.” Yet, from roughly 2010-2013—a period that will be remembered as the era of Body Positivity—she was everywhere. From the cover of Vogue to the tents of New York Fashion Week, the increasing visibility of larger women in the spaces and places of fashion seemed to herald a shift in Western beauty ideals and possibly even the end of fatphobia. The fashion industry, many thought, had finally made an inclusive turn. However, by 2023 the Body Positivity Movement’s momentum was faltering. The meteoric rise of GLP-1 weight loss drugs like Ozempic, Mounjaro, and Wegovy all but invalidated a decade of progress. While fashion brands quietly shuttered their plus-size ranges, the fashion media made a rapid backslide into Y2K-era “thin is in” discourse. The movement was over as quickly as it started.
This paper is, in many ways, a postmortem investigation of the Body Positivity Movement. It interrogates the flimsy foundations upon which the Body Positivity Movement was built, focusing in particular on the shifting representation and visibility of the fat female body in the fashion media in first decades of the twenty-first century. Key “fashion moments,” such as Ashley Graham’s 2017 Vogue cover, and hashtag activism case studies, such as the #MakeMySize movement, will be reassessed through the critical lenses of commodity feminism and commodity activism. This paper will conclude with reflections about the power and pitfalls of media representation and the consequences of the growing (in)visibility of the fat female body in fashion media.