Los Angeles is undergoing a makeover. Leaving behind its image as all freeways and suburbs, sunshine and noir, it is reinventing itself for the twenty-first century as a walkable, pedestrian friendly, ecologically healthy, and global urban hotspot of fashion and style, while driving initiatives to rejuvenate its downtown core, public spaces, and ethnic neighborhoods. By providing a locational history of Los Angeles fashion and style mythologies through the lens of institutions such as manufacturing, museums, and designers and readings of contemporary film, literature and new media, L.A. Chic provides an in-depth analysis of the social changes, urban processes, desires, and politics that inform how the good life is being re-imagined in Los Angeles.
Throughout the book, Susan Ingram and Markus Reisenleitner dig up submerged and marginalized elements of the city’s cultural history but also tap into the global circuits of urban affect that are being mobilized for promoting L.A. as an example for the global, multi-ethnic city of the future. Engagingly written, highly visual, and featuring numerous photographs throughout, L.A. Chic will appeal to any culturally inclined reader with an interest in Los Angeles, its cultural history, and modern urban style.
List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: L.A. Chic: Between Rags and Riches Urban chic: The becoming of the new Los Angeles Chapter 1: Freeway vs Downtown From suburban noir to downtown chic From the suburbs to loft living, or: Neo-noir in gentrification-land: Veronica Mars – The Movie Naomi Hirahara: Murder on Bamboo Lane and Grave on Grand Avenue The subversive need for speed: Fast family, smart L.A. and muscle/cars in Furious 7 A gentler, softer, hipper Los Angeles for the twenty-first century? Chapter 2: Santée Alley vs Santa Fe: Latinidad between Ramonaland and Latino Grit Fuego: The new L.A. street style in Santée Alley The Ramona mythology Los Angeles and Santa Fe: A tale of two nostalgias Fashioning latinidad Chapter 3: L.A.’s Surf Chic: From Drop-Out Culture to Silicon Beach Beaches, L.A. style L.A. beaches become chic Surfer culture The original beachboys Let’s go surfing now: Californian lifestyle in the 1950s Surf globally, resist locally Silicon surfers Reading the beaches Chapter 4: Bling and the Realities of Compton and Calabasas The Bling Ring Surfaces and seriality Faciality Umwelt – Calabasas The ins and outs of Compton Coda: GTA: City without angels Chapter 5: L.A. Fashion in Museums Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) Other fashion-related exhibitions in L.A. Chapter 6: Los Angelization ą la Tom Ford: From American Gigolo to American Apparel “Doing a Gucci” Armani goes to Hollywood “Doing a Dov” Conclusion: Learning from Los Angeles, the Josephine Baker of Cities Works Cited Filmography
Susan Ingram is associate professor of humanities at York University. Markus Reisenleitner is professor in the Department of Humanities at York University.
Reviews for L.A. Chic: A Locational History of Los Angeles Fashion
Building on LAs history, L.A. Chic encompasses complex cultural influences and here we are able to witness their evolution. . . . In our collective consciousness, we often see 'L. A.' as embodying the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. Despite the popularity of this image, it is shown here to be inaccurate; this text gives 'L.A.' a much greater depth, allowing room for the shifting of collective consciousness. Something else to emphasize is the abundance of case studies from within popular culture, which make this text significant for the twenty-first century. . . . Until the timely release of this publication, LA has perhaps been neglected both in the study of fashion and in cultural geography. The case-studies here allow anyone access to the world of LA. They offer ways to translate and interpret all the different snippets of information we believe ourselves to have about the city. -- Film, Fashion & Consumption
- Nominated for Millia Davenport Publishing Award.
