Overview

This book provides a concise and much-needed introduction to the sociology of fashion. Most studies of fashion do not make a clear distinction between clothing and fashion. Kawamura argues that clothing is a tangible material product whereas fashion is a symbolic cultural product. She debunks the myth of the genius designer and explains, provocatively, that fashion is not about clothes but is a belief. There is an institutional structure, ignored by many fashion theorists, that has shaped and produced the fashion phenomenon. Kawamura further shows how the structural nature of the fashion system works to legitimize designers creativity and can make them successful. Newer fashion cities, such as Milan and New York, are the product of the fashion system that originated in Paris. Without that systemic structure, fashion culture would not exist. Fashion-ology provides a big picture approach that focuses on the social process behind fashion and its perpetuation.

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9781859738092

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Reviews

Yuniya Kawamura's Fashion-ology provides an exhaustive and enlightening survey of the literature on fashion in the social sciences from the nineteenth century to the present. Her book will contribute enormously to establishing fashion as a legitimate subject for research and teaching in the social sciences and humanities. Diana Crane, University of Pennsylvania

Author Information

Yuniya Kawamura is Assistant Professor of Sociology, Fashion Institute of Technology.

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