Looking at Fashion Through the Lens of Theory [CTR, Copenhagen]

Aktivitet: Tale eller præsentation - typerForedrag og mundtlige bidrag

Michael Alexander Langkjær - Oplægsholder

  • Studienævnet for Saxo-Instituttet
Utilizing Georg Simmel's "oldie, but goodie" text 'Fashion' (1904) as a convenient reference-point, I critically discuss how some of Simmel's original concepts (dialectical dualities) reappear in newer theories of fashion. I also make use of newer examples of theory application by Danish colleagues as well as in some of my own research. An especial point is made of problematizing some of the theoretical assumptions, which are brought up in the discussion. Among Simmel's concepts, each of which is explained and then problematized by a contrary 'case', are his "imitation vs. differentiation" assumptions of fashion diffusion processes (case: Mao and Nehru tunics); "union vs. exclusion" (case: the Jewish presence in Punk); "equalization vs. individualization" (case: African-American stylin'); "appropriation" (case: from Levantine fashion in ancient pharaonic Egypt to Sun Yat-sen suits); "values" attached to fashion(s) (case: Kopytoff's fashion 'life stories'); outré and anti-fashion fashion as "desire for destruction" (case: Incroyables/Merveilleuses and 'Rock Military Style'); fads (case: Davy Crockett coonskin caps); and fashion novelty and transitoriness on the dividing-line between past and future (case: Karl Lagerfeld's (re)styling of Chanel). I also deal with Bourdieu's charting of the competitive playing field of French postwar fashion (case: Karl Lagerfeld as an individual fashion 'player' within Bourdieu's field structure). This leads up to a brief description of a biographical approach to the analysis of fashion designer creativity, focusing on the phenomenon of 'creative tension.'
27 apr. 2022

Ekstern organisation

NavnUniversity of Copenhagen, Faculty of Humanities, SAXO Institute, Danish National Research Foundation's Centre for Textile Research
ByCopenhagen
Land/OmrådeDanmark

    Forskningsområder

  • Fashion theory, Georg Simmel

ID: 304582376