Overview

When, how and why do clothes become fashion? Fashion is more than mere clothing. It is a moment of invention, a distillation of desire, a reflection of a zeitgeist. It is also a business relying on an intricate network of manufacture, marketing and retail. Fashion is both medium and message but it does not explain itself. It requires language and images for its global mediation. It develops from the prescience of the designer and is dependent on acceptance by observers and wearers alike. When Clothes Become Fashion explores the structures and strategies which underlie fashion innovation, how fashion is perceived and the point at which clothing is accepted or rejected as fashion. The book provides a clear theoretical framework for understanding the world of fashion - its aesthetic premises, plurality of styles, performative impulses, social qualities and economic conditions.

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9781847883667

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When Clothes Become Fashion systematically analyzes the phenomenon of fashion and reveals part of the secret on which fashion depends. Ideal for students, the book also offers fascinating insights for the general reader. Barbara Vinken, University of Munich This is a book that I probably will read more than once because it is so dense with analysis. Although the book is dense with fashion theory and rigourous analysis, it is accessible to a general reader. But for artists whose work references clothing, the body, or fashion, this book is well worth the investment in time because it offers a thoughtful analysis of contemporary fashion designers and artists whose work exists on the boundary between fashion and art. Ingrid Mida, Fashion is My Muse blog

When Clothes Become Fashion systematically analyzes the phenomenon of fashion and reveals part of the secret on which fashion depends. Ideal for students, the book also offers fascinating insights for the general reader. Barbara Vinken, University of Munich

Author Information

Ingrid Loschek was, until her death in 2010, Professor in the history and theory of fashion at the University of Applied Sciences, Pforzheim. She was a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University and Guest Professor at Universities in Tokyo and Cairo.

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