Christina H. Moon, Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu, and S. Heijin Lee
Fashion and Beauty in the Time of Asia
Fashion and Beauty in the Time of Asia considers the role of bodily aesthetics in the shaping of Asian modernities and the formation of the “Asian century.” S. Heijin Lee, Christina H. Moon, and Thuy Linh Nguyen Tu focus on sites as far-flung and varied as Guangzhou and Los Angeles, Saigon and Seoul, New York and Toronto, mapping the transregional connections, ever-evolving aspirations and sensibilities, and new worlds and life paths forged through engagement with fashion and beauty.
The contributors consider the influence of American standards of beauty on plastic surgery in South Korea, Vietnamese debates about “the fashionable,” and the costs and commitments demanded of those who make and wear fast fashion, from Chinese garment workers to Nepalese nail technicians in New York who are required to dress "fashionably." In doing so, this interdisciplinary anthology moves beyond common characterizations of Asians and Asian emigrants as simply abject laborers or frenzied consumers, analyzing who modern Asians are now, what they wear, and how they work, move, eat, and shop. View this publication.