The Oriental Dandy and New Modes of Chinese Masculinity: Oscar Wilde's Consumerist Simulacrum in Chinese Men's Fashion

This talk examines the making of a consumerist middle-class Chinese masculinity inspired by Oscar Wilde’s fashionable persona and his idea of dandyism that have been populated by Western fashion houses’ commercial campaign and male lifestyle magazines in recent decades such as the prominent Alexander McQueen and GQ. The reintroduction of capitalism in Post-Mao (1976–) China has accelerated the rise of consumerism and has spurred a rethinking of a new Chinese (masculine) national image for China to re-join the international conversation. I examine the Chinese middle-class millennials’ interest in changing China’s international image by constructing a new mode of masculinity inspired by Wilde’s dandyism. From Harper’s Bazaar China’s 2016 “Oriental Dandy” series, I attempt to probe the Chinese younger generation’s search of a modern, sophisticated, and cultured national (male) image born out of rebel against both the self-restraint Confucian junzi (a Chinese concept of gentleman) and steely macho communist heroes, instead, they are looking to construct a cosmopolitan urban dandy masculinity, resonating retroactively with Wildean dandies who offer an alternative mode of male identity to the rigid Victorian “idealism.”

Dee Wu is an Early Career Fellow with the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) at the University of Warwick where she received her PhD degree in English and Comparative Literary Studies in 2020. She is also a Fellow of the Institute of World Literature at Harvard University and the School of Criticism and Theory at Cornell University. Her article 'Oscar Wilde in Sinophone Culture' featured in the 2020 Dartmouth Medal Winner - Global Encyclopaedia of LGBTQ History.

Event details

Date: Thursday 14 January, 2020

Time: 5.00-6.30pm (17-18.30) GMT UK

Location: This is an online event. The Zoom link will be sent to you directly via email before the talk. Please note that registration will close at 3.30pm on Thursday 14 January.

If you have any questions about this event, please contact d.dove@surrey.ac.uk

Image: Actor CHANG Chen for Harper's Bazaar China 2016, photographed by SUN Jun, remade by Dee Wu.