The bomber jacket MA-1 was originally designed as military apparel by the United States Air Force and later became part of the ’New Look’, a military strategy that the US Army developed in the age of militarism and in the shadow of a possible atomic conflict during the cold war. It came into being as a civilian garment in Europe in the late 1950s. Since then it has evolved into different types and styles and has become a model in various subcultural contexts — a model that turned into an icon, possibly because it embodied a certain crisis chic and suggested protection. Dany’s talk will reflect on questions such as: How directly does fashion respond to reality and why do styles in fashion often consist of random elements that strangely reappear in parallel with crises? How did the bomber jacket fare in the crises of 1992, 2001, 2008, and 2020? What role do self-referential loops play — when, e.g., a dystopian survival look is making a comeback — or are fashion styles now all mixed up anyway?
Hans-Christian Dany lives in Hamburg and writes in the morning. Sometimes his writing turns into books like, among others, Speed. Eine Gesellschaft auf Droge (2012), Morgen werde ich Idiot. Kybernetik und Kontrollgesellschaft (2013), or No Dandy, No Fun (2023, with Valérie Knoll).
The talk will be followed by a Q&A moderated by Marietta Kesting
In English
Organized by
ICI Berlin
