From Brand Philosophies to Cultural Citizenship

In this print version of his MA thesis the author deals with the fashion creation practice of a few contemporary Hungarian designers (from the fashion brands Je Suis Belle and Use Unused). At the intersection between fashion theory including a gender perspective, social history and cultural studies he examines how brand philosophies and Hungarian references project and shape consumer identities. While the designers constantly redefine "Hungarianness" at a fashionable, internationally appealing level, they maintain the cultural connections of the clothing fashion with Budapest, Hungary. Being a means to assert identities, cultural citizenship is viewed here as emerging through fashion; however, it becomes a double-barreled load: while offers to rethink relations to women's position and state-regulation not just in the present, but also related to the past, it is rather universal in its essence, and thus applicable to men and menswear also. Seen as a cultural practice, fashion and its design can serve as a new angle when discussing issues like "national" culture, cultural memory; and, it can expose the gender order of past, historically constituted regimes as well.