Fashion: An Introduction (Hardcover)

From the rise of the Fashion Café to the phenomenon of the supermodel from House of Style to Unzipped the world of fashion has taken center stage in contemporary culture for better or for worse. In turn although the idea of fashion has been in circulation since time immemorial not until recently has its profound and variegated effects-on economic activity on social and sexual mores and on aesthetic and psychological formulations-been fully considered. With delicacy and wit Fashion: An Introduction investigates the different sides of recent debates over the production marketing and consumption of fashion. Drawing on economics art psychology commerce history and the everyday Joanne Finkelstein considers fashion in its various guises-as body decoration and costume as a language and a form of display as an expression of sexuality and as part of the urban experience. In so doing she has given us the perfect introduction to fashion s social economic and aesthetic impact on the way we think and act.