Uniform: Order And Disorder

by Daniele Brolli, Richard Buckley, Patrizia Calefato

Do uniforms-- objects of fascination to many--unite or distinguish individuals? Do they create reassuring equality or disturbing balkanization? The uniform, starting point for modern dress, combines functional and formal qualities in a situation of mass production and serves to equalize individuals regardless of social status. The aim of this book is to reinterpret, from a contemporary point of view, the uniform as a prototype of male dress, focusing on how the formal and technical perfection of military garments has become a hidden form of reference for today's fashion. In Uniform--edited by Francesco Bonami, Maria Luisa Frisa and Stefano Tonchi, and designed by Studio Camuffo--art, fashion, film, and pop culture coexist in parallel spaces, in constant dialogue with each other. In a sort of cultural parasitism the editors of this book work with and on a wide range of heterogeneous materials--like fabrics, ad campaigns, icon garments, symbolic images, comics and films--in order to explore changes in the social function of the uniform as well as the cultural changes conditioning this function. Retracing the itinerary of the complex system that is the history and present of fashion, Uniform provides an unprecedented decoding of its language and aesthetics.

384 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2001