From the 1940s to the 1960s, the modern runway show emerged in Manila alongside developments in postwar Filipino nationalism, as the Philippines, newly independent from the United States and Japan, sought to articulate its relationships to Asia and the United States. Given that the label "made in the Philippines" has long been synonymous with inexpensive, outsourced labor, what did—and does—it mean to view couture as centered not in the global North, but from the vantage of the global South?  How can Filipino couture—as art form, product, and performance—reconfigure the gendered categories that have shaped our understanding of postcolonialism and global exchange?

Free and open to the public.

Cosponsored by the Department of American Studies, the Department of Modern Culture and Media (MCM), and the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies (TAPS). 

See also:
Research Seminar with Denise Cruz: "Global Mess and Glamour: Behind the Spectacle of Transnational Fashion," March 10, 2016,  10am.