More specifically, the designers have embraced a longstanding Chinese character archetype:
“The Literary Girl (Wenyi Gingnian) is the Chinese ‘girl next door’ — quiet and obedient on the outside but dreamy and sensual inside. ‘It’s not a concept Westerners can understand,’ says Uma. ‘The Literary Girl only exists in Chinese culture.'”
Right. The quiet-submissive-girl-with-hidden-depths is totally a desirable, non-icky trope with absolutely no visibility in Western art, literature, or music. I feel a little like a cultural chauvinist for getting a bee in my bonnet about the “Literary Girl” as a sellable image of the Chinese woman, but I’d just feel better about this emerging fashion trend—which, given China’s ever-growing economic influence, has the potential to seep into the States—if it didn’t hinge on reaffirming tradtional ideas of submissive femininity. But mostly, I just really want to know more: is there any kind of counterculture to this counterculture? What’s the typical socioeconomic status of the women that buy these clothes and aspire to Literary-Girldom? How do you say “spunk” in Mandarin? Let’s go China, okay?
[via WWD]
