From the rise of the Fashion Cafe 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...

From the rise of the Fashion Cafe 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...

Both an exploration of the ways in which we fashion our public identity and a manual of modern sociability, this lively and readable book explores the techniques we use to present ourselves to the world: body language, tone of voice, manners, demeanor, ""personality"" and personal style. Drawing on historical commentators from Castiglione to Machiavelli, and from Marcel Mauss to Roland Barthes, Joanne Finkelstein also looks to popular visual culture, including Hollywood film and makeover TV, to show how it provides blueprints for the successful construction of ""persona."" Finkelstein's...

This book examines the nature of the self and self-identity in the modern age, and the way in which they have been moulded through the alteration of bodily appearance, exemplified fashions, facelifts and diets. The idea that an individual's character is revealed through physical appearance is, Finkelstein argues, deeply embedded in Western culture. And since fashions and cosmetics are closely linked to sexual difference, the author concentrates on aspects of gender identity, suggesting that the female and male identity are differentiated through opposed experiences of the body.