Chinese Fashion : From Mao to Now

How has fashion mirrored the social and cultural changes that have taken place in modern China? To what extent has fashion contributed to those changes?

In the 15 years since the first edition of Chinese Fashion was published, China has surpassed the US as the world’s biggest fashion market and may continue to expand. With rapid urbanization and increasing spending power of the population, China is now a leading consumer and creator of contemporary fashion.

In this revised, 2nd edition, new material highlights the momentous changes that have taken place in Chinese fashion and its relationship with the country’s rapidly evolving technology, economy, politics, and society over the past decade and a half. With a new preface touching on China’s recent crises and their impact on the fashion industry, including the trade war with the U.S. and the 2019 COVID-19 pandemic, Juanjuan Wu provides an updated account of modern Chinese fashion from 1978 to the present day, set against the backdrop of the changing East—West dynamic.

Chinese Fashion offers a historical analysis of the development of the industry, as well as an investigation of the relationship between dress, gender, identity and consumption in contemporary China, providing an invaluable introduction to one of the most powerful fashion countries in the world.