Fashion cosmopolitanism and the de-cosmopolitization of European realities

According to thinkers as diverse as Gabriel Tarde and Ferdinand Tönnies, fashion is an essentially cosmopolitan phenomenon, directing one’s pride beyond one’s nation. For centuries, fashion systems have been highly cosmopolitan, while also reproducing global inequalities: fashion hubs such as London, Paris and Milan traverse European space while being connected to other global cities, exploit peripheral locations, and influence sartorial choices all across the globe. But as Europe shifts politically rightwards, a major question comes into view that the sociology of fashion and fashion studies urgently need to address: How are ‘de-cosmopolitization’ processes, where borders are re-drawn, immigrants are demonised, and ethno-nationalism is on the rise, impacting upon and being dealt with the highly cosmopolitan systems and networks of fashion? The question necessitates new combinations of cultural sociology and political sociology, in order to understand how fashion is being restructured in light of values that it seems opposed to, in terms of both its central structures and the political affiliations and imaginaries of fashion actors.

Two empirical domains are investigated in this light. First, how different social classes in Finland are responding differentially to the perceived cosmopolitanism of fashion at a time when Finnish politics is ever more dominated by right-wing populism. Second, given that Brexit is a major phenomenon of de-cosmopolitization with ramifications for all of Europe, London fashion world’s reactions are crucial to examine. Comparing these two cases allows us to consider the ways in which fashion is being affected by anti-cosmopolitan trends of the kind that would be recognised by thinkers such as Norbert Elias and Ulrich Beck.