Cultural Studies and Fashion Theory

Abstract

This article focuses on the relationship between Fashion Studies and Cultural Studies. By analyzing the theoretical and methodological legacy of the latter, my aim is to examine which concepts specifically situate the genealogy of fashion theory within the tradition of Cultural Studies: specifically, those of culture, sign, and body. I will attempt to explain how Fashion Studies have been developed in academia, both disciplinarily and didactically, since the late 1990s. I will then highlight some crucial moments from which fashion theory has spread and taken root internationally and nationally, and I will explore some common themes between the two fields from a postcolonial and decolonial perspective. I will consider how, in the present era, the legacy of Cultural Studies in the field of Media Studies, and of fashion as a medium sui generis, is extremely valuable for understanding digital society. I will also examine how their legacy in the field of cultural criticism remains ever more relevant for addressing transnational political, ethical, environmental, and social issues across generations, including the role played by fashion.

In some sections of the article, I will employ a method based on a sort of ‘autoethnography’, explaining how, over several decades of my academic career, the perspective of fashion theory has been fundamental to my profession as a scholar, both in my relationship with institutional disciplines and in my teaching practices at the Universities of Bari and Stockholm.

Finally, I will present a suggestion for a university teaching activity on the political role and agency of fashion and clothing, based on a story by Mahasweta Devi.