The question of whether movies can deliver philosophical content is a leading topic in the cognitive and analytic debate on film. But instead of turning to the well-trodden terrain of narrative and emotional engagement, this is the first time fashion and costume choices are analyzed to demonstrate how movies can be said to be doing philosophy.
Considering how fashion and costumes can deliver the epistemic content of a film and act as a guidance to the interpretation of the philosophical content of a film, Laura T. Di Summa examines fashion and costume choices in classical and contemporary films. She discusses a number of cinematic examples, and the costumes and fashion elements within them, illustrating the importance of issues such as the performative side of fashion, the alteration between novelty and repetition, the pivotal role of the body, and the relation between fashion, style, and individual as well as collective identity.
Featuring close examinations of 1950s melodramas, Hollywood blockbusters and documentaries such as All That Heaven Allows, Mad Max Fury Road, and McQueen, Di Summa uses an innovative new lens to provide fresh philosophical analysis of films. The result is not only an advancement of our understanding of the aesthetic means through which film can do philosophy, but the first insights into a philosophy of fashion.
By:
Laura T. Di Summa (William Paterson University USA)
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 216mm,
Width: 138mm,
Spine: 25mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9781350343757
ISBN 10: 1350343757
Pages: 176
Publication Date: 30 May 2024
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Defining Fashion Fashion: An Item Performs Fashion and the New Fashion and Bodily Identity Performance and Style Fashion as a Performance and the Movies Conclusions: Towards a Definition of Fashion 2. Repetition and the New Fashion: What’s New The Dynamic of Repetition and the New: Designing Fashion The Power of Repetition: Three Movies Cary's grey lady suit and the promise of the red dress A homage to Doug Sirk: Two Movies by Todd Haynes Twenty Qipaos Conclusions: Rethinking Repetition 3. The Body Exploring the Body Fashion and the Body: Staring and Strategies for Aesthetic Exploration Furiosa’s Strength Black Panther: Carter’s Superhero Costumes, Worn Everyday Moonlight: The Gold Grill Conclusions: Aesthetic Explorations 4. Couture and Costumes Acknowledging Costume Design Costumes? Fashion and Costumes: Avenues of Conversation Phantom Thread: Filming the Couturier Fashion and Costume Designers: Tom Ford and Arianne Phillips Historical Accuracy and Imaginative Freedom: Dressing Marie Antoinette 30 Years of Geoffrey Beene Conclusions: Two Industries 5. On Fashion and Identity The Episodic Self: Fashion and Identity Narrative Identity and its Shortcomings All Chanel: Personal Shopper McQueen: The Runway L’Année dernière à Marienbad: Fashion or Identity? Conclusions: Episodes and Fashion 6. Closing Thoughts: A Philosophy of Fashion – Through Film What is Fashion? Moving Pictures and Moving Bodies Reassessing Identity Fashion, Off-Screen Epilogue Notes References Index
Laura T. Di Summa is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at William Paterson University, USA. She is a co-editor of The Palgrave Handbook of the Philosophy of Film and Motion Pictures (2019).
Reviews for A Philosophy of Fashion Through Film: On the Body, Style, and Identity
"""In her exciting new book, Laura T. Di Summa opens a new subject for the philosophy of film - movie fashion. Through enlightening discussions of costume design, accessories, and prosthetics as both elements of film style and prompts for questions of personal identity, Di Summa weaves an intricate text of her own."" --Mario Slugan, Lecturer in Film, Queen Mary, University of London, UK ""In recent years, theoretical aesthetics has been expanding its purview both in terms of the subjects it finds worthy of attention and of the sources it is willing to consider for philosophical insight. A Philosophy of Fashion Through Film exemplifies both of these tendencies with style and verve. It takes fashion as its topic and examines what it has to say about the expression of selfhood by making the ingenious methodological move of approaching this topic through the optic of cinema where the issue is especially pronounced. Recommended to all lovers of fashion, film, and philosophy."" --Noel Carroll, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, USA ""Laura T. Di Summa has written a marvellous book on the philosophy of film, arguing that fashion is performative - something we do, not just something we wear. Drawing on Walter Benjamin and Noël Carroll, she shows with admirable clarity how fashion is woven into cinematic aesthetics. A pleasure to read."" --Robert Sinnerbrink, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of Research, Macquarie University, Australia"
