The Fashion System - Hardcover

Barthes, Roland

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0809044374 ISBN 13: 9780809044375

Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1983

Synopsis

In his consideration of the language of the fashion magazine—the structural analysis of descriptions of women's clothing by writers about fashion—Barthes gives us a brief history of semiology. At the same time, he identifies economics as the underlying reason for the luxuriant prose of the fashion magazine: "Calculating, industrial society is obliged to form consumers who don't calculate; if clothing's producers and consumers had the same consciousness, clothing would be bought (and produced) only at the very slow rate of its dilapidation."

About this title

Review:

"Barthes's treatment of fashion in "The Fashion System is his most elaborate attempt to reveal the little worlds of meaning enclosed in each nuance of social life. . . . In a magisterial effort that has been superbly translated by Matthew Ward and Richard Howard, Barthes certainly draws our attention to some fascinating aspects of fashion. . . . One is able to hear the voice of a sensitive and sensible critic who was alive to the symbolic vitality of the world."--Flint Schier, "New York Times Book Review

Book Description:

The great linguist and sociologist turns his attention to the world of fashion

About this edition

• Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux
• Publication date: 1983
• ISBN 10: 0809044374
• ISBN 13: 9780809044375
• Binding: Hardcover