An extensively researched book which demystifies its fascinating and intriguing subject matter for the contemporary reader. Jayne Sheridan has gathered evidence and personal insights to explore the myths which continue to make Fashion today so compelling; placing its key movers and shakers within their full cultural context.
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Martin Dawber, Principal Lecturer in Fashion Communication, Liverpool John Moores University, UK
This is an alchemical process laid bare. Jayne Sheridan delineates with brilliance and humor the ways Fashion utilizes technology to build on the “shifts and revolutions brought about by the gifted and the determined." An exquisite investigation.
—Sharon Mesmer, Humanities Division, New School, New York City, USA
In Fashion, Media, Promotion: the new black magic Fashion is linked to its communication networks - involving the reader in the process of selling Fashion in the global marketplace. Fashion’s ingenuity in adapting to new means of promotion for digital and print media, websites, advertising, cinema, music and television, is celebrated.
- Hollywood’s role in shaping Fashion’s influence is assessed through Audrey Hepburn’s persuasive iconography and the impact of the most watched movie of the 20th century: Gone with the Wind.
- Exceptional designers Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Rei Kawakubo, Mary Quant, Elsa Schiaparelli, Vivienne Westwood are considered, together with extraordinary innovators Paul Smith, Vidal Sassoon, Lynne Franks.
- Roland Barthes’ Fashion System and Mythologies are viewed as cultural and promotional texts, with revealing insights into the technologies which bring Fashion to mass audiences.
- Marketing and branding successes are reviewed and Fashion’s continuing narrative is illustrated with luminous colour images.
