From Chat Noir to Snow White: Ethnicity, Race and Women in Romanian Fashion and Beauty Discourse, 1933-1944

• In Event: Reclaiming Race Narratives in Romania: Archives, Memory and Reckoning

Abstract

This paper analyses the dynamics of fashion and beauty discourse for and about Romanian women between 1933 and 1944, a decade defined by autocracies, extreme-right-wing violence, racism, militarism, and rejection of democracy. It contrasts two symbols of femininity known to interwar Romanian women: Chat Noir, a popular perfume, embodies Parisian elegance and subtly references colour with its name and Snow White, the first Disney princess, linking to Nivea’s glowing white skin promise. The methodology is based on fashion studies with outreach to cultural studies (gender, media) and history (culture, art). It employs semiotics of visual and written published texts and personal archaeology. This paper builds upon the existing literature on fashion and politics (Bartlett 2019), gender and war (Bucur and Winfield 2006), fashion, austerity and war (Taylor and McLoughlin 2020), gender, fashion and violence (Moyse Ferreira 2022), fashion, consumption and modernity (Weinbaum et al. 2008), gender and national identity (Carver and Mottier 1998), gender in Central and Eastern Europe (Livezeanu and Farris 2007), jazz culture and race (Wipplinger 2017), social engineering and eugenics (Turda 2013), and the specific story of Beiersdorf (Reckendrees 2018). It highlights the ethnic and racial dimensions of fashion and beauty for a deeper understanding of Romanian gendered realities.

Author

• Sonia Doris Andras, University of Pisa