The End of Fashion: Clothing and Dress in the Age of Globalization

Description

Attitudes to fashion have changed radically in the twenty-first century. Dress is increasingly approached as a means of self-expression, rather than as a signifier of status or profession, and designers are increasingly treated as 'artists', as fashion moves towards art and enters the gallery, museum, and retail space. This book is the first to fully explore the causes and implications of this shift, examining the impact of technological innovation, globalization, and the growth of the internet. The End of Fashion focuses on the ways in which our understanding of fashion and the fashion system have transformed as mass mediation and digitization continue to broaden the way that contemporary fashion is perceived and consumed. Exploring everything from the rise of online shopping to the emergence of bloggers as power elites who have revolutionized the terrain of traditional fashion reportage, this volume anatomizes a world in which runway shows now compete with live-streaming, digital fashion films, Instagram, and Pinterest. Bringing together original, cutting-edge contributions from leading international scholars, this book is essential reading for students and scholars of fashion and cultural studies, as well as anyone interested in exploring the dramatic shifts that have shaken the fashion world this century - and what they might say about larger changes within an increasingly global and digital society.

Adam Geczy is an artist and writer who teaches at Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, Australia. Vicki Karaminas is Professor of Fashion and Director of Doctoral Research in the School of Design, College of Creative Arts, Massey University, New Zealand.

A well-timed authoritative contribution, which delivers insights about the current state of fashion and broadens the discussion on pressing issues the fashion system faces today. It provides readers with thought-provoking essays that will be of interest to fashion historians, trend forecasters, and anyone looking to explore the evolution of the fashion industry and where technology is taking it next. * Journal of Design History * The End of Fashion is a timely contribution to debates around fashion's status at a time of extraordinary change and instability. Bringing together leading voices across the fields of design, theory, curation and practice, it addresses key questions on the role and shape of 'fashion' in a world transformed by political, technological and social revolutions. An invaluable primer for a post-fashion future. -- Christopher Breward, National Galleries of Scotland An authoritative compilation of theoretical approaches to contemporary fashion, The End of Fashion offers compelling examples of how to make sense of rapidly evolving phenomena. With a provocative central premise, this work gathers significant scholarship to present a state-of-the-art analysis of a complex system. -- Nancy Deihl, New York University, USA