Fashion is both big business and big news. From modelsrsquo; eating disorders and sweated labour to the glamour of a new seasons trends; statements and arguments about fashion and the fashion industry can be found in every newspaper; consumer website and fashion blog. Books which define; analyse and explain the nature; production and consumption of fashion in terms of one theory or another abound. But what are the theories that run through all of these analyses; and how can they help us to understand fashion and clothing? Fashion Theory: an introduction explains some of the most influential and important theories on fashion: it brings to light the presuppositions involved in the things we think and say about fashion every day and shows how they depend on those theories. This clear; accessible introduction contextualises and critiques the ways in which a wide range of disciplines have used different theoretical approaches to explain ndash; and sometimes to explain away ndash; the astonishing variety; complexity and beauty of fashion. Through engaging examples and case studies; this book explores:fashion and clothing in historyfashion and clothing as communicationfashion as identityfashion; clothing and the bodyproduction and consumptionfashion; globalization and colonialismfashion; fetish and the erotic.This book will be an invaluable resource for students of cultural studies; sociology; gender studies; fashion design; textiles or the advertising; marketing and manufacturing of clothes.
#124418 in eBooks 2007-10-30 2014-03-15File Name: B00J9JQON0
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Five StarsBy Emily DickensonI love this book; which is both informative and fun to read.6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. A poetic and unusual perspective on marine invertebratesBy Ellen G MilesTo say that biologists can learn about modern sea life from glass models made 140 years ago is to credit both worlds: the close observations of the contemporary scientist and the extraordinary skill of the late nineteenth century Dresden glassmakers Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka. In her book; A Sea of Glass; Searching for the Blaschkasrsquo; Fragile Legacy in an Ocean at Risk; Drew Harvell; Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University; has succeeded in bringing their glass models to life; searching to find their living counterparts. Each is a metaphor for the other. She sees the glass models as time capsules. Her favorite; the glass model of the common octopus; was carefully restored recently from many small pieces while its living counterpart also lives tenuously today; in its natural habitat. Thus this beautifully written; absorbing; purposeful and eye-opening book presents a time warp: late 19th century glass models and contemporary real specimens; studied on dives by the author in Indonesia; Italy; Hawaii; and the San Juan Islands; Washington State; as well as the low tide flats of Creek Farm; near Portsmouth; New Hampshire.The author begins with a history of these Czech glassblowers; telling how Leopoldrsquo;s 1853 sea voyage and his observations of jellyfish in the Atlantic; including the Portuguese Man of War; led to a fascination with invertebrate sea animals. This book restores to public view the importance of these invertebrate models which until now have been less well known than the Blaschkasrsquo; glass flowers; notably those in the collection at Harvard University. With this book; the invertebrate sea creatures retake center stage; both for their art and for their contributions to the study of nature or; as the author puts it; the tree of life.The Blaschkas at first made their models from illustrations in books written by mid-century naturalists; but soon turned to making watercolors from living examples that had been shipped from sea stations across Europe to their Dresden studio; where they were kept alive in seawater tanks. Dr. Harvell points out the impossibility of working from deceased invertebrates because; once these boneless creatures die; their bodies almost disappear.Each chapter focuses on one group of invertebrates: anemones and corals; jellyfish; worms; sea slugs; octopus and squid; and sea stars. The book features color plates comparing the glass models with photos of the living invertebrates; many of them taken by the author. The images allow the reader to appreciate both life and glass; neither of which we can easily see first-hand. The book reflects Dr. Harvellrsquo;s experiences and observations in her career as a marine biologist on the faculty of Cornell University; whose president in 1885 had acquired the collection of 569 glass models for undergraduates to study. The models were moved later to storage when students were able to study living models. But the glass examples are so accurate that they do have a scientific use today: Dr. Harvell has been able to study and learn about characteristics of the living animals from the glass models. And her enthusiasms on discovering matches for the glass models comes through in her descriptions; she delights the reader with phrases like her comment that the Blaschka tubeworm models deserve ldquo;the prize for transforming the normal into the extraordinary.rdquo;Dr. Harvell writes about more than the glass models. She is interested in the survival and distribution of the invertebrates that the Blaschkas made drawings and models of; and their survival when faced with overfishing; ocean warming; and ocean acidification. Her dramatic descriptions of her own dives are beautifully written as she located the modern matches for the Blaschkasrsquo; models. At the same time; by focusing on different categories of the invertebrates; she can make observations about their survival or their loss; notably in the case of coral reefs and sea stars. She concludes that ldquo;we still have within our reach the fragile legacy of the Blaschkas.rdquo;This beautifully written and illustrated book combines history; art; and the scientific; and belongs in school and university libraries; as well as public libraries and those of aquariums and other collections that focus on life in the sea and its fragile legacy. Some of the glass models; with the original watercolors by the Blaschkas; can be seen at the Corning Museum of Glass until January 8; 2017; where they are on exhibition accompanied by videos made by David Brown during dives to search for the living creatures. The exhibition is exquisitely installed and deserves to be seen at other museums.5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. fascinating in the discussion of both biology and art; jaw-dropping photos of the glass sculpturesBy B. CapossereDrew Harvellrsquo;s A Sea of Glass: Searching for the Blaschkarsquo;s Fragile Legacy in an Ocean at Risk is a braided work of non-fiction whose three strands focus on the creation of a 19th Century collection of exquisitely crafted glass replicas of marine invertebrates; the biology of the creatures themselves; and Harvellrsquo;s attempt through a series of dives to learn how these creatures; so plentiful at the time of their reproduction in glass; are doing in a world grown mostly more inimical to their existence thanks to overfishing; pollution; and most especially global warming.The Blashchkas; a father and son glassmaking team; ended up creating almost 800 of the finely detailed replicas as teaching tools for universities (they were actually more famous for their glass flowers; many of which were displayed in royal gardens). Their dedication and artistic ability can be traced through their letters and journals; through the painstaking notes they took; through the watercolors they created before attempting the same creature in glass; and through the incredible detail of the sculptures; of which experts at the Corning Museum of Glass declared that they could think of no peers; living or dead; who could have achieved the same fine work.Harvell is an excellent guide to the naturalist account of how these creatures livemdash;what they eat and how; how they reproduce; their place in the environmental food web; etc. All of it; explained in precise; clear language is utterly fascinating; even when she describes what she acknowledges are often thought of as the more ldquo;dullrdquo; creatures; the worms.Meanwhile; her attempt to evaluate these creaturesrsquo; vitality in their current existence is highly personal and emotional. Sometimes that emotion is fear or suspense; as she places herself in shark-ridden waters; does a risky night dive; or drops into ocean currents strong enough to rip divers away from their companions and their boats. Often the emotion shared is joyful exuberance as she shares with us her marveling at the gorgeous colors or the ingenuous aspects of a creaturersquo;s biology. But too often the primary emotion is despair; as time and again she relates how marine animals are faltering in todayrsquo;s environments; driven to the edge (or over the edge) of extinction thanks to changing climate or to an overly zealous fishing industry that doesnrsquo;t so much overfish these creatures themselves but disrupts their food web so much that the creatures cannot adapt fast enough. A more personal despair arises as well when; in her quest to find a particular type of octopus; she sees several killed for her by a well-meaning but not-fully-understanding local. We mourn with her the creaturesrsquo; deaths and her part in it.My only complaint about the book is that Harvellrsquo;s prose doesnrsquo;t quite rise to the level of her passion or to the visual richness of the creatures or the glass sculptures. As noted above; shersquo;s always lucid when discussing the science; and she conveys the emotional aspects just as clearly as the technical ones. But I found myself wishing at times for a richness or vibrancy of language and lyricism one finds in some well-known naturalist writers such as Diane Ackerman; Wendell Berry; or Scott Russell Sanders.Finally; one cannot leave off discussing Harvellrsquo;s book without making note of the many lavish; gorgeous photographs and reprints of the Blashchkasrsquo; sculptures and watercolors; as well as of the living creatures; captured in their underwater environment by her partner David Brown (the two collaborated as well on a short documentary film on this same topic). For those wishing to go beyond the photographs; the sculptures themselves can be seen at the Corning Glass Museum; Cornell; and Harvard; and in addition to its regular holdings; the Glass Museum has a larger temporary exhibit of them until January 2017.Both the sculptures and this book are highly recommended.
