Overview

The Covid-19 pandemic heightened people’s awareness of long-standing inequalities within the fashion industry. Amid calls for greater accountability and ethical awareness, efforts are being made within and beyond the industry, chiefly in the cultural and education sectors, to decentralize fashion: to make the conception, creation and consumption of fashionable dress and appearance less ‘western’-centric. Supporting this premise, Hang-Ups argues that purposeful and permanent change within the fashion industry and fashion education is more likely if it is understood how the contemporary industry became ‘western’-centric. To institute effective change, it is necessary to revert to first principles and understand how the fashion industry developed into what it is today. During a period when the concepts of fashion, history and culture are being intensely scrutinized, and with suggestions they are reaching their nadir, the imperative to understand the extent to which they relate, and facilitate the presentation of people’s fashionable bodies, is urgent. Hang-Ups explores the origins and consequences of the fashion industry’s ‘western’-centrism by focusing on nine binaries, defined in the crucible of empire, that continue to be sites of negotiation as the ‘west’s’ traditions and ideals are contested by different cultural perspectives and changing global realities.

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9781350197237

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Reviews

A thoughtfully researched, carefully crafted and wildly engaging inquiry that is essential reading for all of us in fashion committed to bringing about social justice. * Ben Barry, Parsons School of Design, USA * An important and timely work that belongs on the bookshelves of serious fashion students as well as those involved in the design and promotion of fashion products. * Linda Welters, University of Rhode Island, USA * Sometimes a book come along that stops you dead in your tracks and makes you seriously think that change is long overdue. Hang-ups is one of those brave books. * Vicki Karaminas, Massey University, New Zealand * A timely book that dialogues with the complicated multidimensional dynamics of fashion and dress … Utilizes historic and culture guideposts to challenge assumptions, colonialism, paradigms, and ‘western’ trappings and tropes. * Therèsa M. Winge, Michigan State University, USA *

Author Information

Benjamin Linley Wild is Senior Lecturer in Fashion Cultures at Manchester Fashion Institute, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. His work is underpinned by a belief that history has a dynamic role within people’s lives, informing their values and behaviours. He has published widely about fashion and material culture, including Carnival to Catwalk (Bloomsbury, 2020).

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