Synopses & Reviews
Vienna may not be synonymous with fashion like its metropolitan counterparts Paris and Milan, but it is a fashionable city, one that historically has been structured by changing fashions and fashionable appearances. Like the
Litfaand#223;sand#228;ule in Orson Wellesand#8217;s 1949 urban noir masterpieceand#160;
The Third Man, into which Harry Lime escapes in order to avoid capture and which hapless visitors today presume are merely surfaces for advertising, there are many overlooked aspects of Viennaand#8217;s distinct style and attitude. By focusing on fashion,and#160;
Wiener Chicand#160;narrates Viennaand#8217;s history through an interpretation of the material dimensions of Viennese cultural lifeand#151;from architecture to arts festivals to the urban fabric of street chic.
The first book that connects Vienna and fashion with urban theory,and#160;Wiener Chicand#160;draws on material that is virtually unknown in an English-language context to give readers an insiderand#8217;s vantage point on an underappreciated European fashion capital.
Review
"Richly illustrated and clearly written--it illumines both visually and intellectually the role of Jews in German culture and commerce and the creative contribution of Jews to German and Austrian national life. By focusing on one industry, Broken Threads explores in rich detail some of the largest issues in both Weimar culture and the Nazi assault against the Jews." --Michael Berenbaum, former Project Director, The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum "The vibrant rags-to-riches spectrum of direct Jewish involvement in the fashion industries of Germany and Austria is brought to life in this important new book which details the insidious dismantling and destruction of an entire culture."--Sima Godfrey, Director, Institute for European Studies, University of British Columbia
Review
"Richly illustrated and clearly written--it illumines both visually and intellectually the role of Jews in German culture and commerce and the creative contribution of Jews to German and Austrian national life. By focusing on one industry, Broken Threads explores in rich detail some of the largest issues in both Weimar culture and the Nazi assault against the Jews." --Michael Berenbaum, former Project Director, The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum "The vibrant rags-to-riches spectrum of direct Jewish involvement in the fashion industries of Germany and Austria is brought to life in this important new book which details the insidious dismantling and destruction of an entire culture."--Sima Godfrey, Director, Institute for European Studies, University of British Columbia
Review
"The book that Susan Ingram and Markus Reisenleitner have coauthored is a masterpiece which isnand#8217;t afraid to own up to its scholarly rigor. Equally satisfying to the coffee table book skimmer as it will be to the serious student of fashion and history,and#160;Wiener Chic: a Locational History of Vienna Fashionand#160;is a book that attempts to expose the preconditions of history which have given rise to the dynamism of Vienna fashion."
Synopsis
By now, it would seem that every facet of the Nazi attack on Jewish culture had been told. But the destruction of the Jewish fashion industry in Germany and Austria adds an astounding new chapter to the story. Here, Roberta S. Kremer traces the wanton destruction of a thriving fashion industry whose impact on German high fashion was regarded by the Reich as being too heavily influenced by Jewish designers, manufacturers, and merchandisers. The emergence of ready-to-wear and the development of the modern department store with its innovative merchandising and lavish interior design attracted the attention of the Nazis, who proceeded with a campaign of boycotts, humiliation, and Aryanization. Broken Threads includes photographs and fashion plates that tragically illustrate the social and cultural losses suffered during this period.
Synopsis
Broken Threads tells the story of the destruction of the Jewish fashion industry under the Nazis.Jewish designers were very prominent in the fashion industry of 1930s Germany and Austria. The emergence of Konfektion, or ready-to-wear, and the development of the modern department store, with its innovative merchandising and lavish interior design, only emphasized this prominence. The Nazis came to see German high fashion as too heavily influenced by Jewish designers, manufacturers and merchandisers. These groups were targeted with a campaign of propaganda, boycotts, humiliation and Aryanization.Broken Threads chronicles this moment of cultural loss, detailing the rise of Jewish design and its destruction at the hands of the Nazis. Superbly illustrated with photographs and fashion plates from the collection of Claus Jahnke, Broken Threads explores this little-known part of fashion and of Nazi history.
Synopsis
Vienna may not be a city of fashion per se, but it is a fashionable city, a city which historically has been structured by changing fashions and fashionable appearances, by the tortured yet glittering faand#231;ades of personalities and buildings. Like the Litfaand#223;sand#228;ule in Orson Wellesand#8217;s 1949 urban noir masterpiece The Third Man, which Harry Lime escapes into to avoid capture and the hapless visitor presumes are merely surfaces for advertising, and like the stolen letter left prominently on display in Poeand#8217;s short story, Vienna can now afford to wear its charms on its sleeve, confident they wonand#8217;t be recognized. By focusing on fashion, Wiener Chic renarrates Viennaand#8217;s history to bring this process of purloining into relief. It takes the material dimension of urban imaginaries seriously and mobilizes fashion as a structure of visibility that can direct the critical gaze at revealing aspects of the urban fabric from faand#231;ades to festivals.
About the Author
Roberta S. Kremer teaches Museum Studies in the Department of Anthropology at University of British Columbia and is also Executive Director of the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre. She is editor of Memory and Mastery, a study of Primo Levi, and has curated numerous exhibitions.
Table of Contents
Introduction: The Holocaust and Cultural Loss--Roberta S. Kremer * From Rags to Riches: Jews as Producers and Consumers of Fashion--Christopher Friedrichs * Architecture of the German Department Store--Christian Schramm * Contributions of Jewish Fashion Designers in Berlin--Ingrid Loschek * Destruction of a Culture and an Industry--Irene Guenther * Fashion Disappears from Germany--Charlotte Rymann Schallié * Ridding Vienna's Fashion and Textile Industry of Jews during the Nazi Period--Gloria Sultano