Reading Fashion in Art

by Ingrid E. Mida

Dress and fashion are central to our understanding of art. From the stylization of the body to subtle textile embellishments and richly symbolic colors, dress tells a story and provides clues as to the cultural beliefs of the time in which artworks were produced. This concise and accessible book provides a step-by-step guide to analysing dress in art, including paintings, photographs, drawings and art installations.

The first section of the book includes an introduction to visual analysis and explains how to 'read' fashion and dress in an artwork using the checklists. The second section offers case studies which demonstrate how artworks can be analysed from the point of view of key themes including status and identity, modernity, ideals of beauty, gender, race, globalization and politics. The book includes iconic as well as lesser known works of art, including work by Elisabeth Vigée le Brun, Thomas Gainsborough, James Jacques Tissot, Marcel Duchamp and Man Ray, Yinka Shonibare, Mickalene Thomas, Kent Monkman and many others.

Reading Fashion in Art is the perfect text for students of fashion coming to art history for the first time as well as art history students studying dress in art and will be an essential handbook for any gallery visitor. The step-by-step methodology helps the reader learn to look at any work of art that includes the dressed or undressed body and confidently develop a critical analysis of what they see.

Genres: Fashion, Art, Nonfiction, Art History, Fashion History, History

224 pages, Paperback

Published September 3, 2020

Reviews

[Wout · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wel boeiend maar het leest alsof ze soms hopeloos een 'minimaal aantal woorden' moet halen. Het begint met een lange uiteenzetting van hoe je naar fashion in kunst kunt kijken adhv. een vooropgestelde vragenlijst met de meest basic vragen. Ze refereert ook, zonder schaamte, naar haar eigen kunstwerken als voorbeelden hiervan zonder dan ook te zeggen waarom? Enkel de essays over specifieke kunstwerken waren oké maar ook niet meer dan dat...

[Liselotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is absolutely beautiful and so incredibly informative. I really can't wait to add the other ones in this series to my collection!!

[Eva · Rating 3 out of 5]

An original choice of case studies and some really good points, unfortunately the text reads like a not very well edited PhD thesis.

[nadjah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book read more like an intro to fashion history 101 rather than a deeper analysis of fashion history and the way it intersects with art. It might be suitable to someone who is just getting acquainted with the discipline and is just starting out in art history or fashion history, but this was way too surface level for me

[Edie Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good intro as to how to look at paintings through the analysis of clothing. It reads like a text book, which doesn’t disturb me, but others might find that off putting.

[Marlies · Rating 4 out of 5]

HAH suck it putting my uni readings on Goodreads. Like cheating the premiers reading challenge. Anyway, good book v helpful to start visual analysis

[Karolina Pałka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative and well-researched.

[Goldkehlchen20 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a great resource for every fashion-historian wanting to do a thorough analysis of a work of art, as well as every art-historian who has to tackle a piece of art with a strong focus on dress. It's also a great companion book to "The Dress Detective" by the same author.
I truly regret that I didn't have a book like this back in University, it would have been such an asset!