UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Fashion beyond identity: The three ecologies of dress Breuer, R.L.A. Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Breuer, R. L. A. (2015). Fashion beyond identity: The three ecologies of dress General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: http://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (http://dare.uva.nl) Download date: 04 Nov 2018
The purpose of this book is to move beyond the association of fashion with the mere representation of identity. Fashion should be understood as much more than that. The book argues that we should view fashion through a heterogeneous prism, one that enables us to think critically about the open-ended, experimental and limitless potential of fashion. In order to do this, a system is presented that allows the study of fashion in both its creative and destructive capacities. This is achieved by examining the potential connections related to fashion, in which social, environmental and mental concerns appear entangled. To overcome fashion s environmentally destructive and socially exploitative dimensions, it is argued a different mental approach is needed, one which enables us to think about fashion s affective qualities before the representation of identity comes into play. FASHION BEYOND IDENTITY Breuer FASHION BEYOND IDENTITY THE THREE ECOLOGIES OF DRESS Rebecca Louise Breuer
FASHION BEYOND IDENTITY THE THREE ECOLOGIES OF DRESS Rebecca Louise Breuer 1
by Rebecca Louise Breuer This text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Non- Commercial- No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.You are free to share, copy, distribute, transmit the work. <http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0> The author of this dissertation has made every attempt to gain the copyrights of the images used. In case you are the owner of the rights of an image used in this dissertation and have not been informed, please contact the author. Design: Asher Boersma Cover and chapter illustration: Aranka Sanderman 2
FASHION BEYOND IDENTITY The Three Ecologies of Dress ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam Prof. dr. D.C. van den Boom ten overstaan van een door het College voor Promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Agnietenkapel op woensdag 4 november 2015, te 12:00 uur door Rebecca Louise Antoinette Breuer geboren te Roermond 3
Promotiecommissie: Promotor: Copromotor: Prof. dr. P.P.R.W. Pisters Dr. M.A.M.B. Lous Baronian Universiteit van Amsterdam Universiteit van Amsterdam Overige leden: Prof. dr. ir. B.J. de Kloet Prof. dr. C.P. Lindner Prof. dr. E. Rutten Prof. dr. G.E.E. Verstraete Dr. G.W. Lovink Dr. B. Marenko Universiteit van Amsterdam Universiteit van Amsterdam Universiteit van Amsterdam Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Hogeschool van Amsterdam University of the Arts London Faculteit: Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen De uitgave van dit proefschrift werd mede mogelijk gemaakt door steun van: Amsterdam Fashion Institute AMFI Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Create-IT Applied Research Universiteit van Amsterdam, Faculteit der Geesteswetenschappen Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis - ASCA 4
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Table of Contents Introduction 9 Wearing a School Uniform 10 Fashion and Appearance 12 Creatives wear Black 14 Fashion beyond Identity 18 Method and Structure 22 1. Fashioning Identities 27 Fashion and Identity, Charging the Terms 30 Intertwining Fashion and Identity 35 40 Rules and Regulations: Sumptuary Laws 42 Fashion as Imitation 47 Fashion as Language 60 Systems of Signification for Fashioning Identities? 65 Fashion s Ambiguous Play 67 Enchanted Simulation 67 Ambiguous Play 69 Appearance and Identity 72 2. Undressing Plato 81 Plato s Dress 83 David Hume s Jumper 90 An Itchy Jumper and Sore Feet 91 The Habit of Saying I 101 Fashion s Forces 105 Nietzsche s New Look 108 Kawakubo the Cat 114 Deeds rather than Doers 122 Gilles Deleuze s Never-ending Dress 125 Weaving, Felting and Patchwork Quilts 126 Multiple Becomings before Unity of Being 133 Conclusion 137 3. A Delineated Fashion 141 Selling Fashionable Representations 144 6
Brand Identities, Best Friends we Take for Granted 146 Do 151 Adventureless Advice 156 Looking Alike 164 A Delineated Fashion 171 Dogmatic Thought and Creative Potential 175 Made up of Lines 179 Rigid Segmentarity in Fashion 182 Territories, Supple Lines of Segmentation and Lines of Flight 188 Conclusion 196 4. Clothed Connections 201 Deleuze s Desire 205 Contextualising Fashion 209 Received and Contextual Views of Culture and Clothing 212 Articulation in Relation to Culture and Clothing 214 Machines in Assemblage 219 Little Machines 223 A Pair of Jeans as a Little Machine 228 Fashionable Assemblages 231 Dirty Clothes 235 Alternative Assemblages in Fashion 248 Conclusion 253 5. The Three Ecologies 257 Fashion and Mental Ecology 262 Fashion and Social Ecology 267 Fashion and Environmental Ecology 272 Final Recapitulation and Thoughts Beyond this Dissertation 274 Bibliography 279 Summary 293 Samenvatting 303 Rencontres 313 Curriculum Vitae 317 7