YANGON FASHION 1979: Fashion=Resistance

What were the fashion aspirations of Yangon’s youth during the military regime in the 1970s?

This book offers a unique insight into the photographs that brought a spark of free expression to the fashionable youth of Yangon in the late 1970s. Photo studios around Yangon University and downtown attracted an enormous number of young clients posing in stylish outfits, some of which were even custom-tailored for the occasion. The resulting images are something like an old-school Facebook – an exchange of physical imagery, as the photos were usually shared with friends.

The images in the book show that fashion always comes through, no matter the barriers. And no matter what conditions people live in, they want to look beautiful and present themselves as such. The photographs were taken in a variety of studios all around Yangon in around 1979.