Laura Saarenmaa

Post War Cosmopolitan Imagination and the Stories of Getting By

One of the objectives of the Fluid World programme concerns the various understandings of cosmopolitanism. In my research I adopt the understanding of cosmopolitanism introduced by cultural history scholar Mica Nava. Nava (2007) approaches cosmopolitanism as an empathetic and inclusive set of identifications and looks it at its relationship to the changing situation and imaginaries of women. As the majority of the theories of cosmopolitanism operate on the level of macropolitics, Nava draws on historical examples of the intimate, everyday features of cosmopolitanism ?that take place at home, in the home, in the neighborhood, in the interior territories of mind and body?.

In these respects I explore the everyday cosmopolitan imagination and the ways that cosmopolitan lifestyles have been introduced in the Finnish popular media during the 1960s and 1970s. I am particularly interested in the historically constructed meanings of fashion modelling as a gendered practice of cosmopolitan lifestyle. While there is a rich field of research done on modelling within the theories of fashion, I am interested in model personalities as an interest area of national media. I am particularly interested in the 60s national fantasies and ideals of 'getting by' and 'making it' internationally, attached to young women working in the fashion industry. I examine these ideals in the context of post war modernization process, changing labor market and the growing interest in European, urban lifestyle. The primary research material consists of collection of articles published in the Finnish Women?s magazine Anna between 1965 and 1975.