Fashion in theory

<p>For Spring Summer 2020 Gucci showed a collection questioning identity politics and capitalism. Rather than the usual explanation of the material shapes or inspirations behind the collection the press release handed out at the show quoted the philosopher Michel Foucault and questioned the very nature of fashion itself.<br><br> Gucci's press release reflects the popularization of critical theory in public discourse and fashion in particular. Philosophers activists and academics are increasingly recruited to collaborate with luxury brands and main-stream fashion brands have begun to adopt a discourse about politics and critical thinking using in their communication concepts such as resistance gender fluidity national identity or cultural heritage without accompanying these discourses with any form of political engagement or activism.<br><br> Based on this intellectualization of the fashion industry and the recent proliferation of critical theory in fashion education this book stresses the importance of rethinking the relationship between fashion and theory. Drawing together eleven chapters and four conversations by and with philosophers cultural theorists historians anthropologists activists performers and designers the book investigates both the theorization of fashion and the ways in which fashion offers a useful landscape in understanding the current state of critical theory today.</p>