Motherhood, Clothing, and Class in Almudena Grandes' Los aires difíciles

Scholarship on Almudena Grandes has been analysed heretofore through the theoretical prisms of memory, gender, eroticism, and the family, but with a conspicuous lack of attention to class. Departing from an interdisciplinary theoretical basis of fashion studies, sociology, and contemporary Spanish history, this article will consider the maternal conveyance and filial negotiation of class in Almudena Grandes’ 2002 novel, Los aires difíciles. I postulate that the daughter’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 availing of increased social mobility from the 1960s onwards. This article will divide into two parts: an initial theoretical scrutiny of the relationship between class, clothing and motherhood, whilst the second part will examine their interrlelated functions in the novel in question.