Fashion-passport, a New Instrument for Social Integration: Research on Young Female Immigrants in Italy

In this work my aim is to analyse how fashion can be part of the process of integration for young female immigrants in Italy.Young women in Italy are increasingly adopting a ‘Western style’, forgetting or hiding the cultural signs of their homeland. This raises the question if this behaviour is caused by the need for integration, using fashion as a device for shaping their appearance in the eyes of others? Or is it a rebellion against the culture of their birthplace?In this work I focused my interest on the issue of immigration, an act linked with the concept of mutation.Starting therefore from key concepts such as change, the need to reaffirm one’s identity in a new setting and imitation, I have analysed the issue interviewing foreign girls who have at least attended high school in Italy. This qualitative research was useful to understand the relation between fashion and integration, fashion and cultures, and the real value of the ‘fashion-passport’.