‘They got the guns, but we got the numbers’: Fashion, masculinity, and political resistance in the Middle East

Focusing on the 2013 Gezi Park protests, the wave of demonstrations and civil unrest first in Istanbul and then in almost all cities in Turkey, this paper explores the ways in which the ideas and practices of dress and masculinity were performed as a means of resistance against neoliberal authoritarianism.

Description of the conference in which this paper was presented:

London College of Fashion hosted the second Research Hubs conference dedicated to the topic of Fashion and Politics.

Many fashion issues are highly political, and have been extensively explored. But, the relationship between fashion and politics itself has not attracted much attention in the academia. The Fashion and Politics conference brings together the researchers from LCF to explore and debate the key issues in their interaction.

Programmed by Dr. Djurdja Bartlett and Pamela Church-Gibson the conference was structured around a series of provocative, 20-minute ‘position’ papers debating themes such as Marx: capitalism and fashion; Fashion, masculinity, and political resistance in the Middle East; ‘Black is beautiful: John S. Rock, somatic nationalism and race’; Curating the Political: the exhibition ‘Aware: Art, Fashion and Identity, Royal Academy of the Arts; Aleksandar Petrovic's film ‘I Even Met Happy Gypsies'; Teenager or Enemy of the State: Socialist Dandies in Post-war Europe; Eugenics, Gender and Fashion in Interwar Romania.

The conference culminated in a Panel on Fashion and Class, chaired by Pamela Church-Gibson, with the participation of a number of public figures.

The keynote speaker: Elizabeth Wilson, independent scholar and writer

LCF speakers include:
Sonia Andras
Dr Djurdja Bartlett
Dr Eldrid Herrington
Professor Lucy Orta
Serkan Delice
Vlastimir Sudar
Dr Tony Sullivan