Sciascia, Maria Laura; (2024) Refashioning Italian-ness: The role of clothes in 1950s and 1960s Italian cinema. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

Text maria laura_sciascia_PhD thesis.Sciascia Maria Laura. Minor Corrections.pdf - Accepted Version Access restricted to UCL open access staff until 1 November 2025. Download (3MB)

Abstract

My thesis is a study of clothing and fashion's role in Italian cinema during the 1950s and the 1960s. This research uses the analysis of a number of items of clothing to understand different aspects of the characters, as well as their role in Italian popular culture. To this objective, I shall examine the role of four items of clothing: the suit and the dolcevita [turtle neck] in male characters and the skirt and the fur in female characters. These items have been selected inside films from diverse genres (i.e., melodrama, pink-neorealism, comedy Italian style). The initial approach is based on gender distinction: it considers each garment as proper of menswear or womenswear because they deal with an endemic and established binary cultural context. However, the analysis of some of these items inside many of the films that have been analysed complicates and expands upon this strict starting approach. In particular, my study would take examples from different genres and kinds of productions, going beyond auteur films (which is the dominant critical approach to Italian cinema of the period) or what are called fashion films. I mainly discuss films in which the protagonists wear everyday plain clothes that either adhere to the fashion trends of that era or simply reflect Italian lifestyle. These items of clothing only apparently disappear in the general portrayal, but, as this thesis would demonstrate, they are primary features of the film. My analysis is limited to Italian cinema and fashion of the 1950s and 1960s, two decades of change and importance for Italy and Italian cinema. During these two decades, Italy went through a series of social and economic transformations that led the country to modernisation. Notably, these years appear exceptional for the innovations that have affected and renewed cinema, as well as fashion and clothing.

Download activity - last month

Export as XMLCSVJSON

Download activity - last 12 months

Export as CSVXMLJSON

Downloads by country - last 12 months

Export as CSVXMLJSON

Archive Staff Only

View Item