On Fashion

Synopsis

Until recently, fashion was considered the F-word in intellectual circles, dismissed as unworthy of serious attention. Yet no area of life, no individual moment, stands outside fashion's discourses. Intuitively, we all know that clothing is a language, incessesantly communicating messages about its wearer. But who speaks this language, to whom it is addressed, what does it mean, and how are its meanings established and tranformed? On Fashion explores the ways our material, political, psychological, sexual, even intellectual lives are woven into fashion's fabric. This stimulating collection of essays explores fashion's symbolic and figurative functions in photography, cinema, and video; in consumerism, postmodernism, and feminism; in political and material culture; and in self-definition and subjectivity. They demonstrate the pervasive reach of fashion and its expressions. The collection contains over sixty photographs and illustrations and includes essays by Barbara Brodman, Mary Ann Caws, Helene Cixous, Linda Benn DeLibero, Diana Fuss, Cheryl Herr, Karla Jay, Deborah Jenson, Douglas Kellner, Ingeborg Majer O'Sickey, Leslie W. Rabine, Andrew Ross, Sonia Rykiel, Carol Shloss, Kaja Silverman, Maureen Turim, and Iris Marion Young.