Fashion Writing and Criticism

Peter McNeil is Professor of Design History at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia.Sanda Miller is Senior Research Fellow at Southamtpon Solent University, UK, and Associate Lecturer at Istituto Marangoni, London, UK.

• AcknowledgementsList of illustrationsPart 1 What is Criticism?Chapter 1 IntroductionChapter 2 Aristotle and the origins of criticismChapter 3 Talking in private: the Academies and the SalonsChapter 4 Understanding Taste: The Critic as Qualified ObserverChapter 5 Charles Baudelaire: the Beginning of Fashion Criticism; The Art Critic of the Salons Chapter 6 Oscar Wilde and the apostles of aestheticism Part 2 Reporting Fashion: OverviewSnapshotsFashion and morality: Leo Tolstoy’s What is Art?Paul Poiret: ‘sultan of fashion’ – from tradition to innovationDiana Vreeland: ‘Why Don’t you?’ – the invention of the fashion editorChristian Dior: the ‘New Look’ and reporting by Carmel SnowYves Saint Laurent – a 1970s analysis of ‘The couturier and his brand’What is fashion irony? Mild sarcasm or feigning ignorance?Reporting on the Japanese revolution in ParisRichard Martin as essayist: Karl Lagerfeld reworks ChanelBeing critical about ‘deconstruction’: theoretical approach or ‘le destroy’?What is a reviewer? – and how can we recognise one?What gives Suzy Menkes the status of professional critic?ACNE Paper: the beauty of print, the splendour of the pageHow to be a ‘critical’ blogger: Moving beyond the PR ReleaseConclusion: where do we go from here?BibliographyIndex

What a boost for the discipline!