Fashion victims and patriotic consumers: clothing consumption and its political and gendered issues in Lebanon during the French Mandate

ABSTRACT In Lebanon during the French Mandate, clothing consumption was linked with issues of economic nationalism, commercial and urban patterns, and transnational commodity and cultural flows. As clothing items and trends were massively circulating from Western countries, habits and appearances modified and created social and political reactions in the public opinion. This article analyses the gendered dimension of the politicization of this consumption through conflicting representations and norms of women purchasing clothes: caricatures published in the magazine al-Dabbūr (The Hornet) echoing the social anxieties around the perceived changes of feminine public presence and consumption, and articles from the women’s press calling for a moderate attitude towards fashion. The practical application of ideals of patriotic motherhood and middle-class taste are examined through articles aiming at educating to taste, managing the home and family’s consumption in aspects related to clothing, and the women’s movement support to national industries and handicraft. The crossed analyse of these conflicted representations and normative discourses shows how women are constructed as key purchasing agents and as inflecting fashion. Their position in clothing consumption is either elaborated as a curse for the nation or as an occasion to prove their patriotism and thus advance their claims for citizenship.