Fashion Body: Fashion, Clothing, and Modern Society Theory

Author: [British] Entwistle
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: Entwistle's work is comprehensive and clear. She reviews a large body of literature, clarifying theories and analytical methods that can easily lead research astray. She does not offer a single, dogmatic interpretation but demonstrates the necessity of linking the production and consumption of fashion by emphasizing the close relationship between fashion and the body. This is an ideal textbook. The book examines the relationship between fashion and the body, connecting various literature on fashion and clothing with the sociology of the body, pointing out that the former overlooks the body, while the latter marginalizes issues of fashion and clothing in its research. The author argues that to understand fashion and clothing, one must understand the meaning the body is assigned in a specific culture—because fashion speaks to the body and is brought to almost every social context and occasion by the body. Based on references to works by Douglas, Foucault, Merleau-Ponty, Goffman, and Bourdieu, the book provides insights into the connections between the body, fashion, and clothing, proposing the concept of "situational body practices" regarding fashion and the body.