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Language of fashion / Roland Barthes ; translated by Andy Stafford ; edited by Andy Stafford and Michael Carter.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextLanguage: English Original language: French Publication details: Oxford ; New York : Berg, 2006.Edition: English edDescription: xiii, 183 p. ; 19 cmISBN:
  • 1845203801 (pbk.)
  • 9781845203801 (pbk.)
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 391 BAR
Online resources:
Contents:
Clothing history -- History and sociology of clothing : some methodological observations -- Language and clothing -- Towards sociology of dress -- Systems and structures -- Blue is in fashion this year : a not on research in signifying units in fashion clothing -- From gemstones to jewellery -- Dandyism and fashion -- [An early preface to] The fashion system -- Fashion, a strategy of desire : round-table discussion with Jean Duvignaud and Henri Lefebvre -- Fashion and the social sciences (interview) -- On the fashion system (interview) -- Fashion debates and interpretations -- The contest between Chanel and Courrèges : refereed by a philosopher -- A case of cultural criticism -- Showing how rhetoric works -- Clothes, fashion and system in the writings of Roland Barthes something out of nothing / by Andy Stafford.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Copy number Status Date due Barcode
2 Hour Loan LSAD Library Reserve - Library Issue Desk 391 BAR (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 1 Library Use Only 39002100342618
3 Day Loan LSAD Library Short Loan 391 BAR (Browse shelf(Opens below)) 2 Available 39002100342600

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Roland Barthes, widely regarded as one of the most subtle and perceptive critics of the 20th Century, was particularly fascinated by fashion and clothing. The Language of Fashion brings together all Barthes' untranslated writings on fashion.The Language of Fashion presents a set of remarkable essays, revealing the breadth and insight of Barthes' long engagement with the history of clothes. The essays range from closely argued essays laying down the foundations for a structural and semiological analysis of clothing to a critical analysis of the significance of gemstones and jewellery, from an exploration of how the contrasting styles of Courrges and Chanel replayed the clash between ancient and modern to a discussion of the meaning of hippy style in Morocco, and from the nature of desire to the role of the dandy and colour in fashion.Constantly questioning, always changing, Barthes' ideas about clothes and fashion remain to provoke another generation of readers seeking to understand not only the culture of fashion but the fashion of culture.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Clothing history -- History and sociology of clothing : some methodological observations -- Language and clothing -- Towards sociology of dress -- Systems and structures -- Blue is in fashion this year : a not on research in signifying units in fashion clothing -- From gemstones to jewellery -- Dandyism and fashion -- [An early preface to] The fashion system -- Fashion, a strategy of desire : round-table discussion with Jean Duvignaud and Henri Lefebvre -- Fashion and the social sciences (interview) -- On the fashion system (interview) -- Fashion debates and interpretations -- The contest between Chanel and Courrèges : refereed by a philosopher -- A case of cultural criticism -- Showing how rhetoric works -- Clothes, fashion and system in the writings of Roland Barthes something out of nothing / by Andy Stafford.

Translated from the French.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

  • Contents
  • Preface
  • Part I Clothing History
  • 1 History and Sociology of Clothing. Some Methodological Observations
  • 2 Language and Clothing
  • 3 Towards A Sociology of Dress
  • Part II Systems and Structures
  • 4 Blue is in Fashion This Year
  • 5 From Gemstones to Jewellery
  • 6 Dandyism and Fashion
  • 7 [An Early Preface to] The Fashion System
  • 8 Fashion, A Strategy of Desire (round-table discussion with Jean Duvignaud and Henri Lefebvre)
  • 9 Fashion and the Social Sciences (interview)
  • 10 On The Fashion System (interview)
  • Part III Fashion Debates and Interpretations
  • 11 The Contest between Chanel and Courrges. Refereed by a Philosopher
  • 12 A Case of Cultural Criticism
  • 13 Showing How Rhetoric WorksClothes, Fashion and System in the writings of Roland Barthes: Something out of Nothing by Andy Stafford
  • Editors Note and Acknowledgements
  • Bibliography
  • Glossary of Names
  • Index

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Roland Barthes (1915-1980), a French critic and intellectual, was a seminal figure in late twentieth-century literary criticism. Barthes's primary theory is that language is not simply words, but a series of indicators of a given society's assumptions. He derived his critical method from structuralism, which studies the rules behind language, and semiotics, which analyzes culture through signs and holds that meaning results from social conventions. Barthes believed that such techniques permit the reader to participate in the work of art under study, rather than merely react to it.

Barthes's first books, Writing Degree Zero (1953), and Mythologies (1957), introduced his ideas to a European audience. During the 1960s his work began to appear in the United States in translation and became a strong influence on a generation of American literary critics and theorists.

Other important works by Barthes are Elements of Semiology (1968), Critical Essays (1972), The Pleasure of the Text (1973), and The Empire of Signs (1982). The Barthes Reader (1983), edited by Susan Sontag, contains a wide selection of the critic's work in English translation.

(Bowker Author Biography)

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