[PDF] Fashion Portfolio: Design and Presentation by Anna Kiper in Arts-Photography

Description

In much of modern fiction; it is the clothes that make the character. Garments embody personal and national histories. They convey wealth; status; aspiration; and morality (or a lack thereof). They suggest where characters have been and where they might be headed; as well as whether or not they are aware of their fate. At the Mercy of Their Clothes explores the agency of fashion in modern literature; its reflection of new relations between people and things; and its embodiment of a rapidly changing society confronted by war and cultural and economic upheaval. In some cases; people need garments to realize themselves. In other cases; the clothes control the person who wears them.Celia Marshikrsquo;s study combines close readings of modernist and middlebrow works; a history of Britain in the early twentieth century; and the insights of thing theory. She focuses on four distinct categories of modern clothing: the evening gown; the mackintosh; the fancy dress costume; and secondhand attire. In their use of these clothes; we see authors negotiate shifting gender roles; weigh the value of individuality during national conflict; work through mortality; and depict changing class structures. Marshikrsquo;s dynamic comparisons put Ulysses in conversation with Rebecca; Punch cartoons; articles in Vogue; and letters from consumers; illuminating opinions about specific garments and a widespread anxiety that people were no more than what they wore. Throughout her readings; Marshik emphasizes the persistent animation of clothing—and objectification of individuals—in early-twentieth-century literature and society. She argues that while artists and intellectuals celebrated the ability of modern individuals to remake themselves; a range of literary works and popular publications points to a lingering anxiety about how political; social; and economic conditions continued to constrain the individual.