Specifically, it was the dialectical shift from a restored parliamentary monarchy to Stalinism, from moderate liberalism to communism.
#newsovietwoman #newlook #dior #newwoman

In the short span between 1948 and 1949, Romania found itself in a liminal space, navigating between different eras, ideologies, political structures, and empires.

This paper used an interdisciplinary approach, blending cultural studies (fashion, gender, media) with sociological aesthetics, and will employ semiotics and sociological physiognomy to analyse both written and visual texts.

... allowing them to break free from the austerity of wartime and their powerlessness in succeeding conflicts and upheavals, promptly curtailed at the dawn of the Romanian People’s Republic.

In a Romanian context, the ‘new Communist woman’ is a direct descendant of the two main interwar models. The New Look is a dual symbol of colonialism as the worldwide spread of Parisian fashion and decolonisation as a means of expression and emancipation for women, ...

While the New Look has often been deemed as deleterious to women's emancipation, it should be treated within a postwar context as an opportunity given to women to forego practicality and wartime austerity in favour of elegant, albeit nostalgic, glamour.

The aim was to highlight how the choice of style in the last two years of the 1940s implied political, social, cultural and ideological positionality and assumed a particular identity as a personal and collective choice.

My paper contrasted the reception of Christian Dior's New Look in 1948, symbolising women's return to fashion after years of wartime austerity, with the model of the 'new Communist woman' imposed by the USSR, whose main prerogatives were being a worker and mother rather than a chic lady.

Opening PPT slide, showing the paper title, 3 relevant images, the author, affiliation and acknowledgement.

My paper, "New Look versus ‘New Woman’: Dress and Fashion at the Threshold of the People’s Republic of Romania," explored the fluid discourse around dress and fashion as the Romanian Kingdom faced an abrupt end and Romania's Stalinisation shifted from mere rumour to reality.

... offered a critical and nuanced understanding of the social, political, ideological, cultural, aesthetic, and commercial negotiations, clashes, and collaborations in and around Romania as seen through fashion and dress.

with "New Look versus ‘New Woman’: Dress and Fashion at the Threshold of the People’s Republic of Romania". The panel was titled "Fashioning Decentralisation: Dress, Politics and Identity in-between Empires" and ...

Screenshot of the panel in the BASEES 2026 programme, showing time, location, panel title, Chair and panellists with papers.

The panellists were Alexandra Chiriac with "Clothes Make the Man: (Self-)Fashioning the Black Dandy in Romania", Kate Caric with "Nation and Appropriation: The Case of the Romanian Blouse" and me ...
#basees26 #basees #basees2026
#fashion #romania #dress

BASEES Annual Conference 26 10 - 12 April 2026, Birmingham, UK

I'm so thrilled to have been part of an amazing panel at the British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies - BASEES 2026 Conference at the University of Birmingham, chaired by Julia Secklehner.
baseesconference.org

The Women of 'Little Paris' Filling a gap in Eastern European fashion studies, this book presents middle-class women consuming fashion in the symbolic 'Little Paris' of interwar Bucharest,…

Pre-order with the code “GLR BD8” for a 20% discount on the Bloomsbury website: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/women-of-... !

Discount flyer of the book, reiterating the information in the linka and in the post.

The paperback edition of my Bloomsbury Visual Arts monograph will be available on 25 June 2026!
#fashion #paperback #books #interwar #romania #womensfashion #bucharest #interwarromania #interwarbucharest #moda #mode
@bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social @bloomsburyacademic.bsky.social

This research contributes to a deeper understanding of gender studies throughout history in Romania and provides a theoretical and practical basis for future research in the field of medical and related sciences.

The aim is to follow and deepen the understanding of the professional trajectory of Romanian female medical professionals with Rockefeller Foundation support.

The research is centred around the relationship between the concepts of health, beauty and fashion used in propaganda regarding women’s roles. Primary sources include Romanian publications between 1920 and 1948 and documents from Rockefeller Foundation representatives.

This paper applies an interdisciplinary approach in the assessment of fellowship records, reports, diaries and pertinent observations from Rockefeller Foundation representatives.

It examines the international support for modern medical education and the response of the Romanian authorities to these initiatives, analysing the position of nurses as professionals and gender relations in this historical framework.

The research highlights how prejudices related to women’s abilities and role in medical science and practice have informed the perception of healthcare by decision-making authorities in Romania.

“Nurse Between the Lines” explores the role of nurses with specialised training in Romania in the inter- and post-war period until the Communist takeover in 1948. It focuses on the Rockefeller Foundation’s support for modern nursing education during the interwar period and beyond.

Find my paper “Nurse Between the Lines: Romanian Female Rockefeller Foundation Fellows in Medical Professions in-between Innovation and Suppression” on CEEOL www.ceeol.com/search/artic... .

Publication alert!
My paper “Nurse Between the Lines: Romanian Female Rockefeller Foundation Fellows in Medical Professions in-between Innovation and Suppression” has been published in the Yearbook of the »Gheorghe Şincai« Institute for Social Sciences and the Humanities of the Romanian Academy.

Bloomsbury stand at the 2025 ASEEES Convention

If you are attending the Convention at the Washington Hilton, do stop by the Bloomsbury stand. Maybe if you want to snap a quick photo, I would be so grateful and thrilled to see my book “in the wild”, even at an ocean’s distance. #aseees25 #aseees #aseees2025 #bloomsbury #fashion #romania

Wider view of the Bloomsbury ASEEES 2025 stand

in Washington, DC, between 20 and 23 November 2025. The @bloomsburybooksus.bsky.social stand representative took the photos and kindly sent them to me! I participated in the virtual portion of the Convention a month ago, and even though I am not there, my book is!

Book stand detail

Closeup on "The Women of 'Little Paris'"

I am so happy that @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social has included my first monograph “The Women of 'Little Paris': Fashion in Interwar Bucharest” (Bloomsbury Visual Arts 2024, Dress Cultures @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social ) again on a display at the @aseees.bsky.social 2025 Annual Convention on “Memory”,

You can also explore the full issue here: www.historicalyearbook.ro/current-issue/ . This still feels so great and surreal! I am so grateful for the acknowledgement!

You can read the review here (PDF): historicalyearbook.ro/wp-content/v... .

I am delighted to share a very recent review of my monograph “The Women of ‘Little Paris’” (Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2024, Dress Cultures Series @bloomsburybooksuk.bsky.social @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social ) by Dr Georgiana Țăranu in the latest issue of the “Historical Yearbook”.