Ideas Books

The Fashioned Body provides a wide-ranging and original overview of fashion and dress from an historical and sociological perspective. Where once fashion was seen as marginal, it has now entered into core economic discourse focused around ideas about ‘cultural’ and ‘creative’ work as a major driver of developed economies. This book gives a summary of the theories surrounding the role and function of fashion in modern society. By addressing the complex and interwoven amalgam of production, consumption, creativity and constraint, author, Joanne Entwistle reveals the alchemy that is contemporary fashion.  Fashion emerges as a negotiation between designers and wearers in which the physical body is central.  It explores fashion’s gendered investments in debates about both ‘pornification’ and modesty and is a resource for anyone interested in the social role of fashion and dress in modern culture.