On fashion and fashion discourses

Abstract

While critical views inherited from the past still influence our appraisal of fashion, its pervasiveness in contemporary society calls for an explanation. In this article I attempt to show how the importance of fashion in our society is the result of a combination of a structurally modern space and Romantic cultural ideals. I conclude that, despite its frivolous appearance, fashion is not only a powerful social indicator, but also a particular means of bringing together the diverse and often contradictory demands of our human nature through a peculiar exercise of practical judgment. The prominence of fashion in our societies demands an explanation and, although this kind of explanation is usually reserved for sociologists, it is also true that changes in society have become one of the dominant issues in philosophical discourse. A glance at contemporary philosophy shows that social issues have become the starting point – and sometimes even the finishing line – for a large section of philosophical debate or, at least, of philosophical debate which is ‘relevant’ (from a sociological point of view). Whatever the case, this justifies philosophy’s novel interest in fashion, an interest that in no way replaces that of the sociologist since the philosopher approaches social life, 1. This text is the product of a re-elaboration of different materials previously published in Spanish and Italian. CSFB_1.1_Gonzalez_065-086.indd 65 10/13/10 1:24:27 PM