Fashion theory
Parent categoreis fashion - theory -
Theorists: Dick Hebdige - Pierre Bourdieu - Georg Simmel
Art and Fashion (2005) - Alice Mackrell
Art and Fashion: The Impact of Art on Fashion and Fashion on Art (2005) - Alice Mackrell [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Synopsis
Art in Fashion takes a long-overdue look at the influences of art on fashion, chronicling the close relationship between the two, which dates back at least to the Renaissance. It covers for each of the following artistic movements the historical background, the definitions of that art movement and its assimilation into fashion: Rococo and Neo-classicism; Romanticism; Impressionism; Art Nouveau and Art Deco; Vienna Secession, Fauvism and Cubism; Surrealism; 20th-Century Threads (with inclusion of Pop Art and Op Art); Fin-de-Siecle and the new millennium. The book is illustrated throughout with fine art, sketches and fashion plates, visually demonstrating the twin developments of art and fashion. It also includes a chronology of art movements plus appendices of fashion designers, fashion houses, and icons of fashion. --from the publisher
Reading
- Fashion at the Edge: Spectacle, Modernity, and Deathliness (2003) - Caroline Evans [Amazon US] [FR] [DE] [UK]
An academic treatise that's beautiful enough to be a coffee table book, Evans's study argues that during the 1990s avant garde fashion was "permeated by images of death, disease and dereliction." Evans consciously focuses her work on one thread of the fashion world: the edgy costumes of designers like Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Hussein Chalayan and Viktor & Rolf. Theoretically, however, she recognizes no boundaries: her treatise incorporates the disparate works of Walter Benjamin, Charles Baudelaire, T.S. Eliot, Karl Marx, Elizabeth Wilson, Simone de Beauvoir and many, many others. The result is a complex and provocative text, one that displays both the substantial intellect and practical curiosity of its author. --From Publishers Weekly via Amazon.com -
The Style Engine: Spectacle, Identity, Design, and Business: How the Fashion Industry Uses Style to Create Wealth (1998) - Giannino Malossi
[Amazon.com]
"Why brilliant fashion designers, a notoriously non-analytic breed, sometimes succeed in anticipating the shape of things to come better than professional predictors, is one of the most obscure questions in history; and, for the historian of culture, one of the most central." Eric Hobsbawm The Style Engine is an unprecedented survey of the culture of fashion and the fashion industry -- from the products and objects themselves (clothes, accessories, etc.) to the immaterial, ephemeral, shifting meaning outside of the products (the interdependence between the fashion world and mass media, the cult of the fashion designer, symbolic story-telling as seen on the runway and in magazines). This sophisticated social and cultural study of fashion is splendidly illustrate with images by the most celebrated photographers and narrated by a multifaceted group of international experts -- cultural anthropologists, journalists, academics, designers --- examining the allure and mystery of fashion from different viewpoints. "Fashion and Entertainment, Image and Media" takes a look at mass media and shows how fashion has influenced pop music, movies, television, photography, and advertising. "Fashion, Identity, and Society" demonstrates how fashion is a social phenomenon and cultural industry comparable to the entertainment, news, and information industries. "Industry/Economics" explains the process itself, from threads to textiles to finished product. "The Methodology of Fashion Design" not only reveals the manufacturing and marketing of the designs (clothing), but also exposes the contexts in which these objects acquire value (fashion). Fashion is one of the truly international languages, speaking to individuals in every country of the world, and this fascinating book will speak to those legions of style-obsessed readers. --anonymous for amazon.com -
Fashion Victim: Our Love-Hate Relationship With Dressing, Shopping, and the Cost of Style (2002) - Michelle Lee [FR] [DE] [UK]
These insights from former Glamour and Mademoiselle editor Lee will last longer than the fleeting women's and men's fashion trends she explores. Her work scrutinizes the co-conspirators who make up a $200-billion business-designers, manufacturers, the fashion press, garment workers, unions, retail outlets and, ultimately, consumers-and she spares no one. After an introduction to "The Fashion Victim's Ten Commandments" (including "thou shalt pay more to appear poor" and "thou shalt be a walking billboard") and a brief review of the history of Western clothing styles, Lee identifies key trends in today's fashion culture. Trends are quickly born in couture and extend to the mass market through manufacturing innovation. But they're declared dead as soon as they reach Kmart and other chains that offer essentially the same clothing at a fraction of the cost. Still, while the price tag may be low, there are high costs, including the exploitation of garment workers; damaging of the environment by manufacturing; criminal networks caused by mob infiltration of unions; and the problem of women striving for unattainable bodies to fit into clothes designed for professional models. Lee's casual tone-she frequently refers to what the Fashion Victim (who may or may not be the reader) would do in a given situation-belies the seriousness of her findings, but her informal prose doesn't make the book any less convincing of the problems associated with being a slave to fashion.--Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc., amazon.com -
On Fashion (1994) - Shari Benstock, Suzanne Ferriss [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
What function do the clothes we adorn ourselves with really perform? Are we dressing for success, for the spectator, for ourselves or merely to cover our bodies? The ill-fitting viewpoint that one's attire displays one's aptitude, character or standing seems to prevail. Do clothes make the woman? The fashion industry and its powerful media images dictate the way individuals portray their personas and the way we view ourselves. On Fashion presents a collection of essays that look inside the constructed world of fashion and dress, and the constraints in which women become captive. With style, fashion and fantasy as the themes, these essays reveal how fashion claims ownership of our bodies. The clothes on our backs become the portrayal of power-we are what we wear. Clothes portray a number of different aspects about an individual-femininity or masculinity, lifestyle, attitude and, in some cases, political affiliation. The fashion industry grasps this passion, modifies it to fit within the world of design and profits from it immensely. [This book also features Douglas Kellner's essay "Madonna, Fashion, Identity."] --From The WomanSource Catalog & Review: Tools for Connecting the Community for Women; review by SH, amazon.com