FROM TEXT TO FABRIC: RESONANCES OF GILBERTO FREYRE IN BRAZILIAN FASHION

Abstract

In this study, we explore the legacy of Gilberto Freyre for the sociology of fashion in Brazil, revisiting his thesis that "modes of dress" act as catalysts in the dynamics of national identity construction. By reexamining two of his works, Arte, Ciência e Trópico (1962) and Modos de Homem e Modas de Mulher (1987), we investigate the impact of Freyre's ideas on the projection of national identity narratives in Brazilian fashion. What is the historical scope of the Pernambucan author's argument that changes in fashion signify not the abandonment of European heritage, but rather Luso-tropical aesthetic figurations that generate culturally national forms, reinterpreted over time? Thus, we analyze to what extent the premises underlying Freyre’s thesis, regarding supposedly "successful" processes of miscegenation and hybridity, continue to influence the aesthetic ideal-type of "Brazilianness," resonating in contemporary fashion both conceptually and empirically.