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Fashion Victim: Our Love-Hate Relationship with Dressing, Shopping, and the Cost of Style
A riveting look inside the fashion world that exposes the truth about shopaholics, sweatshops, and celebrity closets.
Fashion—from the $1500 Prada bag to the $30 Kate Spade knock-off sold on the sidewalk—has been transformed from a commodity reserved for the elite to a powerful presence in mass market culture. As a society, we are obsessed with fashion and style, racking up credit card debt to support compulsive shopping habits, scouring magazines for the latest trends to buy, and focusing more on who’s wearing what at the Oscars than on who’s winning. In Fashion Victim , award-winning journalist Michelle Lee blows the lid off the fashion industry, and spotlights the fascinating—and often disturbing--ways in which it is morphing our culture, our economy and our values.
Dishing on the lords of the label, including designers like Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, and Kenneth Cole, Fashion Victim reveals a world that is sometimes grotesque, sometimes glitzy, but constantly intriguing. From bear hides to the Victorian bustle, Lee traces the role of fashion through the ages, taking us from the dawn of ready-to-wear in 1865 to the modern trend cycles that incite us to clamor after leg warmers, bumster trousers, and Manolo Blahniks. She details the birth of “Speed Chic”—the hamster wheel of style that keeps us stuck in an endless cycle of consumption and has become the crack-cocaine of fashion, providing us with a temporary high until we spot the next trend and reach for our wallets. She also explores the phenomenon of “McFashion,” the uncanny proliferation of retailers like the Gap and Old Navy that are creeping into every town in America and stripping us—and the designers they knock off--of individuality and innovation. And she ultimately probes the human cost of fashion’s decadence, including the distorted perceptions of beauty fueled by high-end designers, the dangers of dry cleaning, and the ugly financial disparity between those who make the clothes and those who buy them.
An unprecedented look behind the runway at the forces and personalities driving this $200 billion dollar industry, Fashion Victim is a stylish, provocative and highly entertaining contribution to the analysis of American popular culture.
Fashion—from the $1500 Prada bag to the $30 Kate Spade knock-off sold on the sidewalk—has been transformed from a commodity reserved for the elite to a powerful presence in mass market culture. As a society, we are obsessed with fashion and style, racking up credit card debt to support compulsive shopping habits, scouring magazines for the latest trends to buy, and focusing more on who’s wearing what at the Oscars than on who’s winning. In Fashion Victim , award-winning journalist Michelle Lee blows the lid off the fashion industry, and spotlights the fascinating—and often disturbing--ways in which it is morphing our culture, our economy and our values.
Dishing on the lords of the label, including designers like Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, and Kenneth Cole, Fashion Victim reveals a world that is sometimes grotesque, sometimes glitzy, but constantly intriguing. From bear hides to the Victorian bustle, Lee traces the role of fashion through the ages, taking us from the dawn of ready-to-wear in 1865 to the modern trend cycles that incite us to clamor after leg warmers, bumster trousers, and Manolo Blahniks. She details the birth of “Speed Chic”—the hamster wheel of style that keeps us stuck in an endless cycle of consumption and has become the crack-cocaine of fashion, providing us with a temporary high until we spot the next trend and reach for our wallets. She also explores the phenomenon of “McFashion,” the uncanny proliferation of retailers like the Gap and Old Navy that are creeping into every town in America and stripping us—and the designers they knock off--of individuality and innovation. And she ultimately probes the human cost of fashion’s decadence, including the distorted perceptions of beauty fueled by high-end designers, the dangers of dry cleaning, and the ugly financial disparity between those who make the clothes and those who buy them.
An unprecedented look behind the runway at the forces and personalities driving this $200 billion dollar industry, Fashion Victim is a stylish, provocative and highly entertaining contribution to the analysis of American popular culture.
- GenresFashionNonfiction
352 pages, Hardcover
First published February 11, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 6, 2022
Hilarious, informative but too much ranting.
July 28, 2024
Found my old readers journal and this book was in it that I had read. I had written “Great expose about fashion industry trends, sizing and sweatshops.”
September 16, 2010
I thought this was going to be one of those "wear this, not that" rants (in which case I'm not sure why I picked it up!), but I was so wrong. Read it - I'll guarantee you'll never look at clothing or shopping the same way again.
Did you know...
*that Target runs one of the largest sweatshops for clothing trade, AND on US territory?
*that a dry-cleaned garment, after airing for 6 hours, has released only 20% of the cleaning chemicals in it? Chemicals which have been proven to be human carcinogenic?
*that the average American consumer buys 19 new items of clothing - PER SEASON - with the expectation of wearing it no more than twice?
*that our landfills are stuffed with millions of tons of non-biodegradable fabrics, much of which has never been worn?
Did you know...
*that Target runs one of the largest sweatshops for clothing trade, AND on US territory?
*that a dry-cleaned garment, after airing for 6 hours, has released only 20% of the cleaning chemicals in it? Chemicals which have been proven to be human carcinogenic?
*that the average American consumer buys 19 new items of clothing - PER SEASON - with the expectation of wearing it no more than twice?
*that our landfills are stuffed with millions of tons of non-biodegradable fabrics, much of which has never been worn?
April 27, 2008
To dismiss this as a "fashion" read would be a crime. Michelle Lee gives readers a look into the world of fashion: how they keep you buying, how fashion is used to determine class and how what you wear signals how willing you are to assimilate to the American culture. Whatever you do, don't judge this book by it's cover!
February 5, 2009
Well researched. Lots of interesting information on the fashion industry. My only problem is the writing style, which reminded me of the snarky articles you find in Marie Claire, Vogue, Elle and other fashion magazines. Not surprising since the author is an editor for a fashion mag. 2.5 actually, for clearly presented facts.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 24, 2009
Based on the book's subtitle, I expected a fairly in-depth analysis of the industry and of consumer behavior. I should have realized that the cover was communicating a completely different message than the title, however--the book was rather shallow and the writing was magazine-style.
August 6, 2007
witty and insightful!
June 15, 2015
Some interesting bits of information, but given the book format, I expected and wanted more depth.
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April 7, 2018Long ago. Comment is "really interesting"
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews