Asians Wear Clothes on the Internet: Race, Gender, and the Work of Personal Style Blogging

273 Pages·2015·12.67 MB·English

by  Minh-Ha T. Pham

Asians Wear Clothes on the Internet
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Asians
Wear
Clothes
on the
Internet
Race, Gender, and
the Work of Personal
Style Blogging
Minh-H a T. Pham
DukeU niversityP ress Durhama ndL ondon 2015
© 2015 Duke University Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper ∞
Designed by Natalie F. Smith
Typeset in Quadraat Pro by Westchester Publishing Services
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Pham, Minh- Ha T., [date] author.
Asians wear clothes on the internet : race, gender,
and the work of personal style blogging / Minh- Ha T. Pham.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and indxe.
isbn 978-0-8223-6015-5 (hardcover : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-8223-6030-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
isbn 978-0-8223-7488-6 (eb - ook)
1. Fashion—S ocial aspects—A sia—B logs. 2. Asians—
Clothing— Blogs. 3. Fashion writing—A sia—B logs. I. Title.
gt525.p44 2015
391.0095— dc23 2015020933
Cover ar t: Pho tograph © C amera P ress Lt d. / A lamy.
Contents
Ack nowl edgm ents vii
Introduction. Asian Personal Style Superbloggers
and the Material Conditions and Contexts of Asian
Fashion W ork 1
Chapter 1. The T aste and Aftertaste for Asian
Superbloggers 41
Chapter 2. Style Stories, W ritten T astes, and the
Work of Self- C omposure 81
Chapter 3. “So Many and All the Same” (but
Not Quite): Outft Photos and the Codes of Asian
Eliteness 105
Chapter 4. The Racial and Gender ed Job
Perf orm ances of Fashion Blogger Poses 129
Chapter 5. Invisible Labor and Racial Visibilities in
Outft Posts 167
Coda. All in the Eyes 193
Notes 201
Bibliography 219
Index 247
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Ack nowl edgm ents
Writing this book involved a steep and sometimes painful learning curve
that was, by turns, maddening; inspiring; lonely; and crowded with love,
support, and care. My graduate school cohort of friends and allies in t he
Ethnic Studies Department at the University of California at Berkeley were
some of the frst to stand with me as I began this pro cess. Marlon Bailey,
Rebecca Hurdis, Dulcinea Lara, Rani Neutill, Victor Rios, and Gustavo
Guerra Vasquez pushed and inspired me—a nd continue to do so—to hold
my scholarly and pol itic al commitments together in serv ice of one an-
other. Patrick Anderson, Vernadette Gonzalez, Marie Lo, Thy Phu, Oliver
Wang, and Kathy Yep showed me through their examples that intellectual
rigor and intellectual generosity are not only not mutually exclusive but are
in fact co-c onstituting.
The subject of this book is far from anything I wrote as a graduate stu-
dent (including my dissertation), but I hope that Elaine Kim, Josh Kun,
José Saldívar, Trinh T. Minh-ha, and Sau- ling Wong will see throughout its
pages the enormous impact of their rich scholarship and me aningful
mentorship.
Over these past few years, the care and attention that Lisa Nakamura,
Alondra Nelson, and Thuy Linh Tu have given to reading and commenting
on my research have been invaluable. They have helped me sharpen not only
my own understanding of this work but also what feminist scholarship is,
in practice. With their commitment to sharing their wisdom, never pulling
a critical punch, and always looking and being fabulous, they are exem-
plary feminist scholars. I am os grateful to have them on Team Minh-H a.
Ken Wissoker, Elizabeth Ault, and Cathy Hannabach deserve special men-
tion, too. Whate ver strengths this book may have are due in no small part
to their smart feedback and unwavering support of this project through
its many iterations (and, for Ken, across a number of years, lunches, and
shopping trips).
Also deserving of a personal shout-o ut are those who have ridden with
and for Threadbared as well as Of Another Fashion for so many years. When
I began Threadbared with Mimi Thi Nguyen in 2007, I didn ’t expect or
imagine that our online notes and brief commentary about social power
through fashion would fnd an audience of any size. I am very thankful
for Threadbared’s smart, engaged, and active readers. Some of our readers
have also become friends and co-c onspirators in the critical race and gen-
der blogosphere, the feld of critical fashion studies, and irl. Lisa Wong
Macabasco, erin Khue Ninh, Latoya Peterson, Jorge Rivas, Jenna Sauers,
Sarah Scaturro, and Jenny Zhang of (or formerly of ) Hyphen, Racialicious,
Colorlines, Jezebel, Rookie, and the Costume Institute graciously ofered
their personal and professional help in expanding the reach and some-
times the scope of my research and wrtiing at crucial times.
Of course, the frst reader of any of my Threadbared posts (afer me) is my
co-b logger and friend Mimi Thi Nguyen. It is no overstatement to say that
without her amazing gifs for cultural and social analyses, her experience
with html coding, and her willingness to share all of them, Threadbared—
including the research and writing I did in and through Threadbared that
would later become this book— simply would not have been.
For their thoughtful suggestions and criticism of the work at various
stages of its evolution, I want to thank the faculty, students, and members
of the many institutions that have invited me to present my research. Also,
I am grateful for the Society for the Humanities Research Grant at Cornell
University and the Mellon Foundation Research Grant at Pratt Institute
which helped to defray the costs associated with the research and writing
of this book.
I am lucky to have found a small but super smart, fun, and crazy styl-
ish group of friends, allies, and colleagues in and across a range of critical
race, gender, fashion, and media studies. The conversations, good cheer,
viii Ack nowl edg ments
and support of Aimee Bahng, Denise Cruz, Tanisha Ford, Sharon Heijin
Lee, Alice Marwick, Ashley Mears, Christina Moon, Mimi Thi Nguyen, Thy
Phu, Priti Ramamurthy, Thuy Linh Tu, and Grace Wang are some of the
topmost scholarly and nonscholarly reasons I loev being an academic.
Super colleagues in the Social and Cultural Analysis Department at New
York University, especially Crystal Parikh and Lok Siu, ofered me—as a
very green ju nior scholar—k ind remarks and patient advice on embry-
onic drafs of my academic work and a supportive place to share it.
At Cornell University, I could not have asked for a group of better
colleagues than Derek Chang, Viranjini Munasinghe, and Shelley Wong.
Their generous yet exacting comments on various drafs of many of this
book’s chapters—a nd especially their warmth, humor, and encouragement
throughout the three years I was fortunate enough to have been part of the
Asian American Studies Program (defly and gracefully managed by Vlad
Micic)—e nriched my work and life in immeas ura ble ways. I am so grate-
ful to have been part of this small but mighty crew. In the History of Art
and Visual Studies Department, the feminist scholars Cheryl Finley, Maria
Fernandez, and Jolene Rickard, who do the important work of race- ing
art history day in and day out provided much-a ppreciated guidance, sup-
port, and warmth. Annetta Alexandridis, Judy Bernstock, Keeley Boerman,
Saida Hodžić, Kaja McGowan, Lorenzo Perillo, Verity Platt, Noliwe Rooks,
and Nandi Cohen Suarez shared their time, laughter, food, and fashion
i nsights in ways that warmed even the coldest Ithaca months. Shirley
Samuels is a standout colleague at Cornell in general, and especially
for  me. Her energy and eforts in helping me navigate the labyrinth of
downtown Ithaca apartments, my frst tenure-t rack job, and the work-l ife
(and Ithaca- Brooklyn) balance w ere tireless and seemingly limitless.
While my time at the Pratt Institute has been short so far, there has
been no shortage of good food, good conversations, and strong and super
fun collegiality among my new colleagues in the Graduate Program in
Media Studies, specifcally Jon Beller, Stephanie Boluk, Ira Livingston,
Mendi Obadike, Ethan Spigland, and Christopher Vitale.
During the writing of this book, some of the best times for me have been
when I stopped working on it or thinking about it. Cara Faris, Melissa Fon-
dakowski, Mike Garcia, Spencer and Katya Lum, Liz Madans, Thuy Linh Tu,
and Gustavo Guerra Vasquez are always reenergizing forces and bringers
of real talk and real Mexican food. Thank you, thank you.
Ack now ledgm ents ix