The Culture of Fashion PDF Download

Author: Christopher Breward
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 9780719041259
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
This illustrated survey of 600 years of fashion investigates its cultural and social meaning from medieval Europe to twentieth-century America. Breward's work provides the reader with a clear guide to the changes in style and taste and shows that clothes have always played a pivotal role in defining a sense of identity and society, especially when concerned with sexual and body politics.

Author: Fred Davis
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022616795X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 239

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Book Description
What do our clothes say about who we are or who we think we are? How does the way we dress communicate messages about our identity? Is the desire to be "in fashion" universal, or is it unique to Western culture? How do fashions change? These are just a few of the intriguing questions Fred Davis sets out to answer in this provocative look at what we do with our clothes—and what they can do to us. Much of what we assume to be individual preference, Davis shows, really reflects deeper social and cultural forces. Ours is an ambivalent social world, characterized by tensions over gender roles, social status, and the expression of sexuality. Predicting what people will wear becomes a risky gamble when the link between private self and public persona can be so unstable.

Author: Daniel Roche
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521574549
Category : Design
Languages : en
Pages : 564

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Book Description
Newly avilable in paperback, this major contribution to cultural history is a study of dress in France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Daniel Roche discusses general approaches to the history of dress, locates the subject within current French historiography and uses a large sample of inventories to explore the differences between the various social classes in the amount they spent and the kind of clothes they wore. His essential argument is that there was a 'vestimentary revolution' in the later eighteenth century as all sections of the population became caught up in the world of fashion and fast-moving consumption.

Author: Yuniya Kawamura
Publisher: Berg
ISBN: 1847886078
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 106

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Book Description
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.

Author: Valerie Steele
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1474245498
Category : Design
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
Paris has been the international capital of fashion for more than 300 years. Even before the rise of the haute couture, Parisians were notorious for their obsession with fashion, and foreigners eagerly followed their lead. From Charles Frederick Worth to Gabrielle "Coco†? Chanel, Christian Dior, and Yves Saint Laurent, fashion history is dominated by the names of Parisian couturiers. But Valerie Steele's Paris Fashion is much more than just a history of great designers. This fascinating book demonstrates that the success of Paris ultimately rests on the strength of its fashion culture – created by a host of fashion performers and spectators, including actresses, dandies, milliners, artists, and writers. First published in 1988 to great international acclaim, this pioneering book has now been completely revised and brought up to date, encompassing the rise of fashion's multiple world cities in the 21st century. Lavishly illustrated, deeply learned, and elegantly written, Valerie Steele's masterwork explores with brilliance and flair why Paris remains the capital of fashion.

Author: Annette Lynch
Publisher: Berg
ISBN: 1847887503
Category : Design
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
Changing trends in fashion have always reflected large-scale social and cultural changes. Changing Fashion presents for the first time a multi-disciplinary approach to examining fashion change, bringing together theory from fashion studies, cultural studies, sociology, psychology and art history, amongst others.Ideal for the undergraduate student of fashion and cultural studies, the book has a wide range of contemporary and historical case material which provides practical examples of trend analysis and change, from the art deco textile designs of Sonia Delaunay to the chameleonic shifts in Bob Dylan's appearance over time. Key issues in fashion and identity, such as race, gender and consumption are examined from different disciplinary angles to provide a critical overview of the field. Changing Fashion provides a concise guide to the main theories across disciplines that explain how and why media, clothing styles, and cultural practices fall in and out of fashion.

Author: Adam Geczy
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 0857854267
Category : Design
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Orientalism is a central factor within the fashion system, both subtle and overt. In this groundbreaking book, the author shows the extent of the influence that the Orient had, and continues to have, on fashion. Our concept of Western fashion is unthinkable without it, whether in terms of the growth of the cotton industry or of garments we take for granted, such as the dressing gown. From pre-modern to contemporary times, this book demonstrates that, in the realms of fashion, the Orient is not simply a construction or a fascination of the imperial West with its eastern other. Rather, it reveals the extent of cross-pollination, exchange and multiple translation that has taken place between East and West for the last 500 years. Exploring topics including Chinoiserie, masquerade, bohemianism, Japonisme, the "de-Orientalization" of the Orient, perfume and the birth of couture, Fashion and Orientalism is an essential read for students and scholars of fashion, cultural studies and history.

Author: Veronica Manlow
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351522639
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
Fashion is all around us: we see it, we buy it, we read about it, but most people know little about fashion as a business. Veronica Manlow considers the broader signifi cance of fashion in society, the creative process of fashion design, and how fashion unfolds in an organizational context where design is conceived and executed. To get a true insider's perspective, she became an intern at fashion giant Tommy Hilfi ger. Th ere, she observed and recorded how a business's culture is built on a brand that is linked to the charisma and style of its leader. Fashion firms are not just in the business of selling clothing along with a variety of sidelines. Th ese companies must also sell a larger concept around which people can identify and distinguish themselves from others. Manlow defi nes the four main tasks of a fashion fi rm as creation of an image, translation of that image into a product, presentation of the product, and selling the product. Each of these processes is interrelated and each requires the eff orts of a variety of specialists, who are often in distant locations. Manlow shows how the design and presentation of fashion is infl uenced by changes in society, both cultural and economic. Information about past sales and reception of items, as well as projective research informs design, manufacturing, sales, distribution, and marketing decisions. Manlow offers a comprehensive view of the ways in which creative decisions are made, leading up to the creation of actual styles. She helps to defi ne the contribution fashion fi rms make in upholding, challenging, or redefi ning the social order. Readers will fi nd this a fascinating examination of an industry that is quite visible, but little understood.

Author: Kristin Knox
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 9781408130711
Category : Design
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
A contemporary look at both traditional clothing and street styles from 38 countries around the world and the influence these two very different kinds of dress are having on fashion and designers today. Traditional dress from around the globe inspired the early designs of people like Coco Chanel and Christian Dior. Culture to Catwalk looks back at the roots of the industry, the backlash against brash consumerism, globalisation and 'fast-fashion' and that what people are wearing locally on the streets is once again influencing what stalks the catwalk (just as at the turn of the century). It features interviews and quotes from designers and brands including Hussein Chalayan, Rei Kawakubo, Sophia Kokosalaki and many more.

Author: Regina Lee Blaszczyk
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526122111
Category : Design
Languages : en
Pages : 528

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Book Description
The period since 1945 has been a transformative era for the fashion industry. Over the course of seventy years, the fashion world has moved from celebrating the craftsmanship of haute couture to revelling in ever-changing fast-fashion. This volume examines the transition from the old system to the new in a series of case studies grouped around three major themes. Part I focuses on Paris as a creative hub, aiming to understand how the birthplace of haute couture adapted to late-twentieth-century developments. Part II considers the retailer’s role in shaping taste, responding to consumer expectations and disseminating fashion merchandise. Part III looks to alternative visions of the European fashion system that have appeared in unexpected places. The volume is highly interdisciplinary, covering design history, cultural anthropology, ethnography, management studies and the cultural history of business.