Fashion at the Edge: Spectacle, Modernity, and Deathliness (Hardcover)

~ Caroline Evans (Author) "On the fiftieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz two young men with shaved heads wearing dressing gowns and striped pyjamas with numbers on them..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, Hussein Chalayan, Walter Benjamin (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

An academic treatise that's beautiful enough to be a coffee table book, Evans's study argues that during the 1990s avant garde fashion was "permeated by images of death, disease and dereliction." Evans consciously focuses her work on one thread of the fashion world: the edgy costumes of designers like Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Hussein Chalayan and Viktor & Rolf. Theoretically, however, she recognizes no boundaries: her treatise incorporates the disparate works of Walter Benjamin, Charles Baudelaire, T.S. Eliot, Karl Marx, Elizabeth Wilson, Simone de Beauvoir and many, many others. The result is a complex and provocative text, one that displays both the substantial intellect and practical curiosity of its author.
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Review

"Evans grapples with extremely interesting issues, such as why fashion imagery has become so dark and decadent. Her choice of contemporary fashion imagery - and her juxtaposition of these images with similar themes in art - is brilliant." Valerie Steele, Director of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 334 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; illustrated edition edition (November 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300101929
• ISBN-13: 978-0300101928
• Product Dimensions: 11.2 x 9.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,051,053 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive account of 90s cutting-edge designers, November 10, 2003

By	Roger Tredre/WGSN (London, UK) - See all my reviews

Caroline Evans has written an important book that explores the work of cutting-edge designers of the 1990s such as Martin Margiela, Hussein Chalayan, John Galliano, Alexander McQueen and Viktor & Rolf. The book's subtitle - "Spectacle, Modernity and Deathliness" - sums up the author's focus on the underside of fashion. Evans acknowledges that much of the fashion featured in this book was "economically negligible", arguing that its cultural import is of greater significance. She explores how designers of the 90s consciously or unconsciously explored the dark history of the 20th century through their work, with death, trauma, cruelty, and horror as recurring themes.

Where is this all leading? The conclusions are doom-laden but fascinating. British designers, with their focus on "gothic fashion", may represent the ghost or shadow of rational American designers. Creatively, Evans posits a bleak future for fashion "doomed to ricochet between modernist experimentation and dark despair." In a memorable line, Evans writes: "Now, more than ever, everything new and beautiful seems to arrive already haunted by its own demise." The financial insecurity of many of these designers in their early days may have fuelled their creativity. They were, as designer and teacher Fabio Piras put it, "fashion desperadoes". This book is full of illuminating insights that put fashion design at the core of our culture, expressing our deepest concerns.

Outstandingly researched, beautifully illustrated, and thrillingly authoritative, Fashion at the Edge may prove to be the definitive book on the generation of designers from London and Antwerp who came to prominence in the 1990s.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars gorgeous inspiring book, March 25, 2006

By	Carrie Grace (Los Angeles, CA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The photographs, stories of design history and research in this book are phenonmenal. This is a great book to inspire, shock and mesmerize. It is my most recent favorite in my costume research collection.