Participant Info

First Name
Elizabeth
Last Name
Castaldo Lundén
Country
United States
State
4
Affiliation
University of Southern California
Website URL
www.elizabethlunden.com
Keywords
red-carpet, Academy Awards, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Hollywood history, 20th century fashion history, fashion newsfilms, costume design, 20th Century and globalization, celebrity culture, popular culture, media history.
Availability
Media Contact
Additional Contact Information
elizabeth.lunden@fulbrightmail.org
PhD
PhD

Personal Info

Photo
About Me

Elizabeth Castaldo Lundén is a Fulbright Scholar and an Anders Zorn Sweden-America Foundation Research Fellow at the School of Cinematic Arts of the University of Southern California.

She received her Doctoral degree in Fashion Studies from Stockholm University, a Master of Arts in Cinema Studies from the same institution, and a Bachelor of Science in Public Relations from Universidad Argentina de la Empresa (UADE). Her research explores the media dimensions of the historical liaisons between Hollywood and the fashion industry.

Her research is heavily driven by archival sources and integrates business, fashion, cinema, and media history. In doing so, she addresses the historical cross-industry relations between Hollywood and the fashion industry. She is particularly interested in studying how Hollywood’s intermedial reach helped propel the international fashion system through the global circulation of cultural and economic capital. Departing from the study discourses originating in public relations, advertising, marketing, and other institutional practices to understand how ideas travel into popular culture and manifest in social and cultural phenomena, her work contributes to the pool of knowledge about the United States’s rise to power in the global arena by circulating popular culture to promote their ideals and propel consumer culture during the 20th Century.

Her latest book, Fashion on the Red Carpet: A History of the Oscars and Globalisation (Edinburgh University Press, 2021) traces the liaison between Hollywood and fashion institutions to understand how public relations campaigns and the media articulated fashion discourses around the Oscars leading to the institutionalization of the red-carpet as a fashion event in its own right.

Castaldo Lundén has also done extensive research on the career of costume designer Jacques Fonteray and his work for the classic sci-fi film Barbarella (Roger Vadim, 1968). In 2015, she discovered Fonteray´s private archive, and worked with the family to preserve his cultural legacy by donating part of his collection of sketches to the Margaret Herrick Library of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

She is currently researching the history of fashion in newsreels and designing a project in collaboration with the Media Ecology Project.

Recent Publications

Books

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. Fashion on the Red-Carpet: A History of the Oscars(r), Fashion and Globalisation. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2021. Find here

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Oscar Night in Hollywood: Fashioning the Red-Carpet from the Roosevelt Hotel to International Media.” (Stockholm: Stockholm University, 2018). Find here

Peer-reviewed original articles

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “The Most Famous Costume Designer: Revisiting Edith Head’s Career Through a Contractual Lens.” Film History: An International Journal 34, no. 4 (2023): 30-58. https://www.muse.jhu.edu/article/900041  

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Branding the Oscarcast:  The Public Relations Strategies that Established the Academy Awards Ceremony as a Successful Media Spectacle.” Historical Journal for Film, Radio and Television (2022) https://doi.org/10.1080/01439685.2022.2065079 

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Exploring Fashion as Communication: The Search for a New Fashion History Against the Grain.” Popular Communication: The International Journal of Media and Culture 18, no. 4 (2020): 249-258. DOI: 10.1080/15405702.2020.1854952

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Fearless Fashion: Rudi Gernreich.” Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture (September 2019): 1-12. DOI: 10.1080/1362704X.2019.1664527   

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth and Chiara Faggella. “Editorial Foreword to Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Fashion and the Moving Image.” Journal of Film, Fashion, and Consumption 8, no. 1 (April 2019): 3-8. Accessible at https://doi.org/10.1386/ffc.8.1.3_2 

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. Introduction to “Exploring the Intersections of Fashion, Film and Media.” Networking Knowledge 11, no. 1 (May 2018): 1-6. Accessible at https://ojs.meccsa.org.uk/index.php/netknow/article/view/527/336 

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Barbarella’s Wardrobe: Exploring Jacques Fonteray’s Intergalactic Runway.” Film, Fashion, and Consumption 5(2), (December 2016): 185-211. https://doi.org/10.1386/ffc.5.2.185_1

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Lo Squalo, le strategie di marketing della universal e la costruzione della ‘Jawsmania’.” Cinergie 7 (March 2015), DOI: 10.6092/issn.2280-9481/6967 

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “No Oscar for The Oscar? Behind Hollywood’s Walk of Greed.” Networking Knowledge 7, no. 4 (November 2014). Accessible at https://ojs.meccsa.org.uk/index.php/netknow/article/view/352/182  

Book Chapters

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Classical Hollywood.” In Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Film Costume Design, Vol 1, edited by Deborah Nadoolman Landis. London: Bloomsbury. [Forthcoming]

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Postwar Hollywood.” In Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Film Costume Design, Vol 1, edited by Deborah Nadoolman Landis. London: Bloomsbury. [Forthcoming]

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Guilds and Unions.” In Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Film Costume Design, Vol 1, edited by Deborah Nadoolman Landis. London: Bloomsbury. [Forthcoming]

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Academy Award for Best Costume Design.” In Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Film Costume Design, Vol 1, edited by Deborah Nadoolman Landis. London: Bloomsbury. [Forthcoming]

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Costume/Fashion.” In Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Film Costume Design, Vol 1, edited by Deborah Nadoolman Landis. London: Bloomsbury. [Forthcoming]

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Product Placement.” In Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Film Costume Design, Vol 1, edited by Deborah Nadoolman Landis. London: Bloomsbury. [Forthcoming]

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Adrian.” In Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Film Costume Design, Vol. 2, edited by Deborah Nadoolman Landis. London: Bloomsbury. [Forthcoming]

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Theoni V. Aldredge.” In Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Film Costume Design, Vol. 2, edited by Deborah Nadoolman Landis. London: Bloomsbury. [Forthcoming]

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Jacques Fonteray.” In Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Film Costume Design, Vol. 2, edited by Deborah Nadoolman Landis. London: Bloomsbury. [Forthcoming]

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Edith Head.” In Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Film Costume Design, Vol. 2, edited by Deborah Nadoolman Landis. London: Bloomsbury. [Forthcoming]

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Orry Kelly.” In Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Film Costume Design, Vol. 2, edited by Deborah Nadoolman Landis. London: Bloomsbury. [Forthcoming]

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Bob Mackie.” In Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Film Costume Design, Vol. 2, edited by Deborah Nadoolman Landis. London: Bloomsbury. [Forthcoming]

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Barbarella.” In Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Film Costume Design, Vol. 3., edited by Deborah Nadoolman Landis. London: Bloomsbury. [Forthcoming]

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Reporting Fashion: Fashioning Moving Images from Newsreels to Web Series.” In Insights on Fashion Journalism edited by Rosie Findlay and Johannes Reopen. London: Routledge, 2022. DOI: 10.4324/9781003035688-9

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Användningen av digitala arkiv inom humaniora.” In Humanistiska fakultetens jubileumsserie. Stockholm: Stockholm University Press, 2019. https://www.hum.su.se/polopoly_fs/1.493457.1585644364!/menu/standard/file/7017%200012%20Bok%202%20Low_3.pdf

Conference contributions

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “The Movies and You: The Postwar Attempts to Keep Audiences Interested in Hollywood.” Crises and Turns: Continuities and Discontinuities in American Culture – The Biennial Conference of the Nordic Association for American Studies (NAAS), May 25-27, 2023.

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth.“Back to the Screen: Costume Research in the Digital Age.” NOS-HS III New Approaches, Methodologies, and Connections, Workshop organized by the National Library of Norway, May 5-6, 2023.

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth.The Case for Awards Studies – Roundtable, Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS), April 2023.

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. Media Archives Committe Workshop: Film Archives Workshop (Moderator), SCMS+, Online. February 20th, 2023

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “What was your Question? Deciphering How the Digital Humanities can Aid in the Study of Fashion.” Paper presented at Fabrics in Motion: Mediality and Materiality of Textiles in Early 20th Century Film and Media Culture- Department of Art History of the University of Cologne, May 2022. 

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth.  “Spectacular Costume Design: The Dialectics of Above-the-line Recognition and Below-the-line Labor.” Paper presented at Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) Conference, March 2022.

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Beyond the Screen: The Perils of Researching Costume Design History.” Paper presented at Dressing the Media: Materials and Methods for Studying Screen Costume-IAMHIST, UK, September 2021. 

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Newsfilms as Historical Repositories of Fashion and Dress: A Methodological Initiative.” Paper presented at New Research in Dress History – Association of Dress historians, UK, August 2021. 

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “The Struggles of the Remote Scholar: Creating Opportunities for Archival Access Beyond Broad Digitization.” Roundtable presented at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference, 2021. 

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Pedagogies of Perspective: The Challenges and Opportunities of Teaching Moving Images and Gender in a Multicultural Classroom.” Paper presented at the Stockholm University Teachers Conference, Kista, Stockholm, March 26, 2020. 

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “A Woman’s Job: Edith Head’s Transformation from School Teacher into Hollywood’s Most Iconic Costume Designer.” Paper presented at Bridging Gaps: Re-Fashioning Stories for Celebrity Counterpublics, Center for Media Celebrities, New York City, USA, 30 August – 1 September 2019.  

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “From Costume Designer to Fashion Expert: Edith Head as a Cultural Mediator of Style and Femininity in Postwar America.” Paper presented at Fashion and Costume Designers as Cultural Translators: Adapting Dress Across the Media, University College Cork, Ireland, 18-19 July 2019.  

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “The Most Famous Costume Designer: Constructing Edith Head’s Narrative from School Teacher to Hollywood Stardust.” Paper presented at Fashion, Costume and Visual Culture Conference in Roubaix, 9-11 July 2019.  

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Italy on the Red-Carpet: The Postwar Presence of Italian Designers at the Academy Awards.” Paper presented at Global Intersections and Artistic Interconnections: Italian Cinema and Media Across Time and Space, The American University in Rome, 14-15 June 2019.  

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “The Case of Lux Flakes: Hollywood Costume Designers as Fashion Experts and Product Endorsers under the Studio Era.” Paper presented at the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) Conference, Toronto, Canada, March 2018.  

  •  Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Cuerpos de Emulación Pecuniaria: Estrellas de Hollywood como elemento homogeneizador de la femineidad e identidad nacional en los Estados Unidos (1906-1930).” Paper presented at theXIII Jornadas nacionales de Historia de las Mujeres y VII Congreso Iberoamericano de Estudios de Género, Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 2017. 

  •  Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “The Classroom and the Archive: Teaching Film and Media History Using Digital and Physical Primary Materials.” Paper presented at the SCMS Conference, Chicago, U.S.A., March 2017. 

  •  Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “The “Paco Rabanne Myth:” How Archival Research Can Help Us Deconstruct Celebrity Discourses.” Paper presented at the Celebrity Culture and Power Between Culture and Politics Conference, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, November 2016. 

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Oscar Night in Hollywood: Edith Head and the Emergence of the Academy Awards’ Fashion Pre-Show.” Paper presented at the 84th Anglo-American Conference of Fashion Historians, Senate House, London, UK, July 2015.  

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “JAWS: Creating the Myth of the Man-Eating Machine.” Paper presented at the JAWS 40thAnniversary Symposium, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK, June 2015. 

  •  Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Because Fashion Matters: Studying the Intersections of Fashion, Film and Media.” Workshop presentation at the SCMS Conference, Montreal, Canada, March 2015.  

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Oscar Night in Hollywood: Edith Head and the Emergence of the Academy Awards’ Fashion Pre-Show.” Paper presented at the SCMS Conference, Montreal, Canada, March 2015.  

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Who Cares About the Best-Dressed? Mr. Blackwell’s Infamous List and the Art of Self-Branding.” Paper presented at the Celebrity Studies Journal Conference, London, UK., June 2014.  

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Who Cares About the Best-Dressed? Mr. Blackwell’s Infamous List and the Art of Self-Branding.” Paper presented at the PCA/ACA conference, Chicago, U.S.A., April 2014.  

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Dior Salve a la Reina: Cristina Fernández´s Fashionable Pleasures and her Constant War Against the Media.” Paper presented at the Popular Culture and World Politics Conference PCWP VI, Stockholm, Sweden, September 2013. 

Edited Special Issues for Journals

Popular science articles/presentations  

Presentations- broader audience

  • Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Barbarella: 50 Years of Space Age.” Lecture for the cycle Cinemateket Om Film, Swedish Film Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, 2018.  

  •  Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Pre-Code Hollywood: The Final Sparks of the Insubordinate Screen.” Lecture for the cycle Cinemateket Om Film, Swedish Film Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, 2016. 

  •  Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Comunicación responsable de la violencia de género.” Course given at the Círculo Marplatense de profesionales de la comunicación, Mar del Plata, Argentina, 2016. 

  •  Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “¿A quién le importan los mejores vestidos? La lista infame de Mr. Blackwell y el lema toda prensa es buena prensa.” Presentation at the Círculo Marplatense de profesionales de la comunicación, Mar del Plata, Argentina, 2014.  

  •  Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Oscar Red Carpet: From Local to Global (A Media History)” Seminar at the Media Department at University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, U.S.A, 2014.  

  •  Castaldo Lundén, Elizabeth. “Hollywood, moda y la alfombra roja: El surgimiento del consultor de moda en los Oscars.” Lecture given at UNTREFCyT Consumos culturales: creadores, poseedores y gestores (siglos XX y XXI) del IIAC, Universidad de Tres de Febrero, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2014. 

Media Coverage
https://www.elizabethlunden.com/media
Country Focus
United States
Expertise by Geography
North America, United States
Expertise by Chronology
8, 9
Expertise by Topic
Capitalism, Economic History, Emancipation, Government, Labor, Libraries & Archives, Material Culture, Pedagogy, Public History, Technology, Women, World War II