Description
Book SynopsisDeeply erudite but also playful and full of wit. Salman RushdieFashion Sense is designed to explode fashion, and with it, the stigma in philosophy against fashion's superficiality. Fashion appears to be altogether differently occupied, disingenuous and insubstantial, even sophistic in its pretense to peddle surfaces as if they were something deep. But is fashion's apparent beguilement more philosophical than it seems? And is philosophy's longing for exposed depth concealing fashion in its anti-fashion stance? Using primarily ancient Greek texts, peppered with allusions to their echoes across the history of philosophy and contemporary fashion and pop culture, Gwenda-lin Grewal not only examines the rift between fashion and philosophy, but also challenges the claim that fashion is modern. Indeed, fashion's quarrel with philosophy may be at least as ancient as that infamous quarrel between philosophy and poetry alluded to in Plato's
Republic. And the quest for fashi
Trade ReviewFASHION | SENSE is Gwenda-lin Grewal’s brilliant meditation, deeply erudite but also playful and full of wit, on clothing as disguise, revelation, acquiescence, transformation, identity, and second self, as the "bodies we put on." In Grewal’s hands the “age-old argument” between philosophy and fashion, the things of the mind and the things of the body, is scintillatingly renewed. * Salman Rushdie, Distinguished Writer in Residence, New York University, USA *
Fashion | Sense: On Philosophy and Fashion is a brilliant book... The book is extremely original in writing and thinking. Grewal has style in spades, and this style creates (or rather is) her considerable substance. The book thrums with energy and wit, and it was an absolute pleasure to read. It took my breath away. * Fashion Theory *
Fashion | Sense: On Philosophy and Fashion by Gwenda-lin Grewal explores how philosophers underestimate fashion's power in their search for the naked truth. Mercifully devoid of academic jargon and pomposity, the book is studded with brilliant and often witty observations on the unexpected parallels between philosophy and fashion. * Valerie Steele, Director and Chief Curator, The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, USA *
Gwenda-lin Grewal’s
Fashion | Sense should be read more than once, for it moves conceptually, on multiple levels, and stylistically on many others. If you read it for its insights into Ancient Greek philosophy, you will find yourself returning to it for its sharp criticism of contemporary society—mores and looks. On a third time, you may want to reread it just for its prose. * British Journal of Aesthetics *
This rich, knowledgeable, variegated book challenges easy assumptions about fashion’s modernity. Grewal juxtaposes contemporary manifestations of fashion with situations and characters from ancient literatures in an expert pursuit of fashion-thinking, where “fashion-thinking” means philosophy’s engagement with dress, but also fashion’s own mode of reflection. * Nickolas Pappas, Professor of Philosophy, The City University of New York Graduate Center, USA *
A fascinating book by a great new talent which wholly successfully drags philosophy out the closet. In writing that is at once clear and deep, classically informed and very funny, Grewal makes a wholly convincing case for the kinship of philosophy and fashion. Highly recommended." * Simon Critchley, Hans Jonas Professor, The New School for Social Research, New York *
Table of ContentsNote to Reader Preface: The 'Other' Ancient Quarrel 1. Fashion Sense 2. Phantom Selves 3. The Dead 4. The Dandy 5. Divine Tailoring 6. The Beauty of Ugliness 7. The Question of Fashion's Beginning
Bibliography Index
