1960s Model Girl

1960s Model Girl explores the wealth of life-writing surrounding the independent, successful, wage-earning and glamourous ''Model Girls'' in the British fashion industry in the post-war period, ranging from autobiography and memoir to advice literature and educative text. Providing an introduction to theories of life-writing, auto/biography and narrative, 1960s Model Girl demonstrates how these can be applied to the study of fashion. It also shows us how fashion studies can open up new ways of understanding identity and emergent British femininities. McDowell draws on a wealth of archival research and the writing of professional women in the field - including Jean Shrimpton, Mary Quant, and Janey Ironside - and explores these narratives through the lens of the popular culture and mass media of the late 1950s and 1960s. Focusing on the cultural idea of the ''Model Girl'', McDowell offers a multi-disciplinary insight into the relationship between name, face, labour, production and consumption - one which sheds light on our own mass-media present, as well as illuminating the cultural past.>

Préface
An examination of the life writing which surrounds the 'model girl' in post-war Britain, including autobiography, memoir, and advice literature.

Auteur
Felice McDowell is Course Leader of the MA Fashion Cultures and Histories programme at the London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London.

Texte du rabat

"As the British fashion industry took off in the post-war period, the figure of the photographic fashion model rapidly came to represent a new mode of femininity: independent, successful, and fashionably dressed. Fashioning a Life explores the wealth of life writing surrounding these glamourous 'Model Girls', from autobiography and memoir to advice literature. The book draws on a wealth of archival research and the writing of professional women in the field - including Jean Shrimpton, Mary Quant, and Janey Ironside - and explores these narratives through the lens of the popular culture and mass media of the late 1950s and 1960s"--

Résumé
Examining histories of post-war Britain, fashion, modelling, photography and popular culture, 1960s Model Girl: Narrative Identities in Fashion, Time and History explores model girl narratives found throughout media, fashion magazines, advice literature, auto/biographies and fashion exhibits. Introducing theories of history, life-writing and narrative identity, 1960s Model Girl demonstrates how these can be applied to the study of fashion and shows how fashion studies open new pathways to understanding identity and emergent British femininities. Drawing on a wealth of archival research, case studies include teen fashion magazines Petticoat and Model Girl; advice writing of model agent Lucie Clayton and fashion journalist Suzy Menkes; autobiographies of fashion models Jean Shrimpton and Twiggy; and the Mary Quant exhibition, Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2019-2020). This book provides an intricate study of a varied and manifold figure whose impact and influence spreads further afield than a particular time, place and professional context. Closely attending to a range of model girl narratives, 1960s Model Girl illuminates the cultural past and, in turn, sheds light on our own historical present.

Contenu
List of Figures Acknowledgements 1. Introduction Part 1 2. 1960s Model Girl 3. Narrative Identities in Fashion, Time and History Part 2 4. 'Real' Girls in Fashion Magazines 5. The Storytelling of Advice Literature Part 3 6. Afterlives and Autobiographies 7. Retrospective Heroines of Fashion Exhibitions 8. Afterword Notes Bibliography Index