ABSTRACT
Departing from an interdisciplinary theoretical basis of fashion studies, sociology and contemporary Spanish history, this chapter will consider the maternal conveyance of class and the daughterly negotiation of it in the novel Los aires difíciles. I postulate that Sara’s affiliation to the inflexible conceptualisation of class endorsed by her adoptive mother, Doña Sara, ultimately hinders (and annuls) her capacity to achieve her maximum potential during Spain’s apertura, when class divisions subsided due to Spain’s unprecedented prosperity. Thus, the adoptive mother is firmly positioned in this narrative as the wielder, not so much of inflexible gender expectations but rather of mercantile class norms that ultimately prevent Sara from flourishing and, in effect, availing of the increased social mobility from the 1960s onward.
This chapter is divided into two parts: an initial theoretical scrutiny of the relationship between class, clothing and motherhood, whereas the second part will examine their interrelated functions in the novel in question.
