Fashion Writing and Criticism History, Theory, Practice

by McNeil, Peter; Miller, Sanda

• ISBN13: 9780857854469
• ISBN10: 0857854461
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2014-12-18
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

Fashion Writing and Criticism provides students with the tools to critique fashion with skill and style. Explaining the history and theory of criticism, this innovative text demonstrates how the tradition of criticism has developed and how this knowledge can be applied to fashion, enabling students to acquire the methods and proper vocabulary to be active critics themselves.

Integrating history and theory, this innovative book explains the development of fashion writing, the theoretical basis on which it sits, and how it might be improved and applied. Through concise snapshot case studies, top international scholars McNeil and Miller analyse fashion excerpts in relation to philosophical ideas and situate them within historical contexts. Case studies include classic examples of fashion writing, such as Diana Vreeland at Harper's Bazaar and Richard Martin on Karl Lagerfeld, as well as contemporary examples such as Suzy Menkes and the blogger Tavi.

Accessibly written, Fashion Writing and Criticism enables readers to understand, assess and make value judgments about the fascinating and changeable field of fashion. It is an invaluable text for students and researchers alike, studying fashion, journalism, history and media studies.

Author Biography

Peter McNeil is Professor of Design History at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia.
Sanda Miller is Senior Lecturer in Media and Visual Arts at Southampton Solent University, UK.

Table of Contents

Part 1
Introduction
What is Criticism?
What Does the Critic Do?
Aristotle and the Origins of Criticism
Talking in Private: The Academies and the Salons
Understanding Taste: The Critic as a Qualified Observer
Baudelaire’s Criticism: Art for Art’s Sake and Fashion
Oscar Wilde and Apostles of Aestheticism
Morality versus Pleasure: Art with a Purpose or ‘Art for Art’s Sake’

Part 2
Reporting Fashion: Twentieth-Century Overview
Snapshots
Fashion and Morality: Leo Tolstoy’s What is Art?
Paul Poiret: Sultan of Fashion
Paul Iribe, Georges Lepape and Raoul Dufy: The New Fashion Page
Madeleine Vionnet: Euclid of Fashion
Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel’s Chromatic
Elsa Schiaparelli: ‘That Italian Artist who Makes Clothes’
Diana Vreeland at Harper’s Bazaar: ‘Why Don’t You?’
Hollywood Costumiers in Lights: Adrian Gilbert, Travis Banton, Edith Head
Christian Dior: The New Look of Fashion
Cristóbal Balenciaga: Fashion as Sculpture?
Yves Saint Laurent and the New Space of the Boutique
What is Fashion Irony?
The Japanese Revolutionise Paris: Rei Kawakubo, Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto
Richard Martin as Essayist: Karl Lagerfeld Reworks Chanel
Being Critical about ‘Deconstruction’
Mark Jacobs: The New Global Fashion
The Fashion interview and judgment: Valerie Steele and Boudicca
What is a Reviewer?
What Gives Suzy Menkes the Status of Professional Critic?
ACNE Paper: The Beauty of Print
Creating a Post-colonial Fashion Narrative: Easton Pearson – Australia and India
Debating John Galliano’s Downfall
BOF: The Business of Fashion
How to Be a ‘Critical’ Blogger

Conclusion: Where Do We Go from Here?
Bibliography
Index