Nothing in Itself: Complexions of Fashion (Theories of Contemporary Culture)

"This is a wonderful book not 'just' about fashion but modernism,
postmodernity, the arts and popular culture, design and technology, biology
and culturalism. It has a lot to say about ideas in fashion (reflections on
theories of performativity, temporality, difference, repetition,
class/gender relations, and the recessive status of Beauty today, organize
the chapters), and about fashion in ideas. And it's about how we might write
cultural history for a 'posthistorical' time." —Meaghan Morris

Beyond the theatricality of fashion, or its commerce, are other seductive issues that come with dress in its fascination-effect, including the validities, vanities, and deceits of appearance. No more than appearance, "nothing in itself," that fashion has substance, complex and elusive substance, is the thematic of this book, putting another complexion on the subject, the look, and the look that incites the look, in high style, street style, classical elegance or fetishistic chic, from farthingale and corset to power suits and grunge.