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Abstract

This study examines how fashion culture and lifestyle, understood as modes of self presentation, social performance, and everyday practice, operate as tools of identity construction and resistance in Eka Kurniawan’s Beauty Is a Wound. The objective is to reveal how beauty, personal choices, and public perception function as symbolic capital in negotiating gendered power relations, class hierarchies, and political constraints. Using close textual analysis, the research explores how female characters, particularly Dewi Ayu, mobilize appearance, behavior, and life decisions to challenge dominant ideologies and redefine their roles in society. The findings show that fashion culture in the novel extends beyond clothing to encompass socially coded forms of visibility and influence, transforming beauty into a strategic site of agency. Lifestyle choices, from unconventional work to defiant relationships, emerge as acts of resistance that blur the boundary between personal autonomy and collective struggle. These results position the novel as a literary example of how aesthetic and cultural practices can function as vehicles for social activism.

Bahasa Abstract

Penelitian ini mengkaji bagaimana budaya fesyen dan gaya hidup, yang dipahami sebagai bentuk presentasi diri, performa sosial, dan praktik keseharian, berfungsi sebagai sarana pembentukan identitas dan resistensi dalam novel Cantik Itu Luka karya Eka Kurniawan. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah mengungkap bagaimana kecantikan, pilihan personal, dan persepsi publik beroperasi sebagai modal simbolik dalam menegosiasikan relasi kuasa berbasis gender, hierarki kelas, dan pembatasan politik. Melalui analisis tekstual mendalam, penelitian ini menelaah bagaimana tokoh-tokoh perempuan, khususnya Dewi Ayu, memobilisasi penampilan, perilaku, dan keputusan hidup untuk menantang ideologi dominan serta mendefinisikan ulang peran mereka dalam masyarakat. Temuan penelitian menunjukkan bahwa budaya fesyen dalam novel tidak terbatas pada busana semata, melainkan mencakup bentuk-bentuk visibilitas dan pengaruh yang dikodekan secara sosial, sehingga mentransformasikan kecantikan menjadi ruang strategis bagi agen perempuan. Pilihan gaya hidup, mulai dari pekerjaan yang tidak konvensional hingga relasi yang bersifat defiatif, muncul sebagai bentuk-bentuk resistensi yang mengaburkan batas antara otonomi personal dan perjuangan kolektif. Hasil ini menempatkan novel tersebut sebagai contoh karya sastra yang menunjukkan bagaimana praktik estetika dan budaya dapat berfungsi sebagai wahana aktivisme sosial.

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