Call for Book Chapter Proposals: Dressing the Iberian World: Fashion, Cultural Practices, and Identities from the 19th to the 21st Centuries // Capítulos de libros para: Vestir el mundo ibérico: moda, prácticas culturales e identidades en los siglos XIX al XXI

Summary

This collective volume, under contract with Vernon Press, invites the submission of chapters that examine fashion as a sociocultural, political, and aesthetic phenomenon in the Iberian world, as well as its transnational connections from 1800 to the present. Understood not only as a material practice but also as a system of signification, fashion constitutes a language through which identities, hierarchies, and historical transformations can be articulated and contested. In dialogue with foundational theoretical frameworks —from Georg Simmel’s conception of fashion as a mechanism of social differentiation to Roland Barthes’s semiotic reading— this volume seeks to explore how fashion produces and reflects individual and collective values, aspirations, and needs in specific geographical and historical contexts.

Although the study of fashion in the Iberian context has already garnered scholarly interest (Díaz Marcos, 2008; Valis, 2009; Pérez 2021; Fernández de Alba and Garcés, 2021), this proposal incorporates a transdisciplinary perspective that attends to both material objects and practices, as well as their literary, visual, and media representations. The question animating the volume is not only what was worn, but who could wear it, under what conditions, and with what political, aesthetic, and cultural consequences.

We welcome contributions in Spanish or English that address different manifestations of fashion in the Iberian sphere and beyond. Transdisciplinary approaches integrating perspectives from history, literature, cultural studies, sociology, gender studies, art history, film, and related fields will be encouraged.

Themes and topics:

• Gender transgressions: feminine, masculine, and hybrid or non-normative forms of dress; clothing as a space for negotiating and subverting gender identities

• Fashion and politics: the role of dress in contexts of change and conflict, including La Gloriosa Revolution of 1868, the Disaster of 1898, the Civil War, the postwar period, the Francoist dictatorship, and the transition to democracy

• Regulation and resistance: laws and regulations that have attempted to discipline dress —from the Rebellion of the Mantillas of 1871 to the restrictions imposed under Francoism and the practices that challenged them

• Fashion in a global context: exchanges, influences, and transnational connections between the Iberian world, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa

• Regionalization and identity: relations between dress, territory, and identity construction; fashion in relation to the rise of nationalisms and regionalisms

• Iconic figures and popular culture: designers, brands, artists, and celebrities as key agents in shaping fashion discourses from the 19th century to the present

• Fashion and social spaces: settings where fashion is displayed and acquires meaning (racecourses, department stores, gardens, churches, urban promenades) understood as sites of visibility and performativity

• Fashion, the body, and hygiene: bodily care practices (makeup, hairstyling, skincare) and the tensions between health, morality, and aesthetics

• Symbolism of garments and accessories: analysis of specific objects (shawls, hats, watches, handbags) as carriers of social, economic, and cultural meaning

The list above is not exhaustive, and proposals that expand or reframe these themes are particularly welcome. The volume aims to contribute to a rapidly growing field within Iberian cultural studies by reflecting critically on the political, social, and gender implications of dress across public and private life. 

This volume is part of the research project, Gender, Image, and Materiality in the Literary Culture of Modernity (1880s–1930s), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities and developed at the Universidad de Sevilla (Ref. PID2022-137613NB-I00).

Submission Process

Proposals should include an abstract of approximately 500 words, accompanied by a short biographical note of 100 words. Please send submissions via email to Jeannette Acevedo Rivera (jeannette.acevedorivera@csulb.edu) and Inés Corujo Martín (icorujomartin@citytech.cuny.edu).

Submissions can be made in Spanish and English. Please indicate the intended language of the final contribution.

The deadline to submit proposals is September 15th, 2026.