Eleni Sideri, Elina Kapetanaki
Abstract
Since the 1980s/1990s, Thessaloniki’s city center underwent many changes connected to the rediscovery of the ‘cosmopolitan’ character of the city’s past, its multilayered and interconnected histories. The shift was part of the gradual integration of the city within the EU regionalism, but also the reception of a considerable number of immigrants arriving from the neighboring Balkan countries and the former Soviet Union. These different layers of histories have been inscribed in the city center and in the stories of people working and living there. Our paper focuses on stories of female workers involved in cloth making and circulation of clothes within the historical city center. The paper reflects on how clothing from a sign of protection, personal style, and distinction turns into a vehicle leading to the narrative worlds of these women: their connection to the city center, crises, and hopes of the everyday life inscribed in the “historical laws of motion” (Narotsky 1997).
Keywords: city, globalization, gender, clothing, life-stories
