Bloomsbury Fashion Central

Footwear is a garment characterized by a long history. In prehistoric times, it was a simple piece of wood or leather and was used to protect the foot. Today shoes are more than functional objects. They convey a wide range of meanings associated with fashion, style, personality, sexualitysexuality, gender, and classclass. (Riello 2006: 1)

It [subculture] has come to signify the twentieth-century category for youth groups who possess some sort of marked style and shared affiliations. Whereas sociologists use the term to describe an infinitely wider array of groups—sport fishermen, West Texas Baptists, or toy train hobbyists—“subculture” is more popularly used to characterize groups of young people. (Clark 2003: 223, footnote 2)

White Lotus, the theme of the funeral that has transported us into the world of fashion designers and the South Delhi business elite, is a fitting metaphor for the key motif of this book. It is also a fitting metaphor for the ethnographic journey in which this work is grounded and for its analytical angle. Like the lotus, the beauties ritualof Indian fashion and heritage luxuryheritage luxury cannot be conceived without their juxtaposition, without the mud from which they grow and that brings the

The first chapter introduces the Indian fashion industry, the dominant neo-aristocratic aesthetics in contemporary luxury fashion design and the recent intensification of the business elites’ obsession with displays of opulent Indianness and their desire to master time and space through conspicous displays of status. It walks the reader through three key rituals. First, the interactions between designers and their clients in the studios, where they ‘celebrate Indianness’ together. Second, the fas

The final chapter turns to the world of elite men and the balancing acts of masculinity that they perform in order to cultivate their image of power.The role played by the ‘rhetoric of muscularity’ is investigated, as is the threat of effeminacy, stemming among other things from their indulgence in luxury and consumption. In order to counteract this threat, men appropriate symbols of low class machismo and incorporate them in the elitist aesthetic, in a similar way in which they use ‘dirty’ subst

There is no simple way to answer the question “why does someone dress in a punk style?” Motivations cannot be entirely quantified, however there are dominant themes that drive many to make stylistic choices toward a punk look. Punk style is a way to express individual identity, as it addresses internal emotions as well as lifestyle choices and position within society. The individual choosing punk dress may be expressing internal feelings as well as trying to find external recognition for his or h

interactivityinteractivityparticipatory artaudience involvementrelational aestheticsRelational Aesthetics is also when a successful artist, um, who is too busy touring the globe going from biennial to biennial, and they have no time to make physical art objects any more, so the famous artist uses the attendees at the exhibition as the artwork in some way, you know what I’m saying, like to explore the social relationships between people and y’know this kind of practice is really good when you’re a

From the beginning, video art was understood as anti-establishment. It can lay claim to a unique origin: unlike other visual arts media, it was forged in the crucible of contemporary, rather than modern, classical or ancient, art. It had no tradition so was not beholden to it. It had no canon so could start from scratch in response to its immediate circumstances. It had no critical discourse so was not accountable to it. It promised to democratize the production of images. Video art emerged at th

Minimalist artists constructed simple, monochromatic, geometric objects of formal symmetry, characterized by an absence of traditional composition. Minimalism was an extreme abstract art, not imitative but solipsistic, self-referential: it was unto itself, harking back to the idea of truth to materials whose lineage can be located in the Russian Constructivists (particularly Rodchenko, AleksandrRodchenko and El Lissitzky) through to Moore, HenryMoore, Hepworth, BarbaraHepworth, Gabo, NoamGabo, Pe

jazzorigins ofNew Orleansslave performancesBechet, Sidneyon slave performances/New Orleansartinfluence of AfricanAfrican ritualsAfrican art/dressDecades before the Civil War, a gathering of inspired people seeking self-determination initiated the birth of a musical genre that flourished throughout America. Congo SquareCongo Square in New Orleans, Louisiana is the highly renowned ground where slaves gathered for spiritual communion on free Sunday. By 1800, these assemblies swelled to six hundred i

Adding to his narrative, Michel Fontanes, a former executive, author and jazz musician, articulated the French impression of African American male instrumentalists that expatriated to the country. “They were considered in France as Gods. All black musicians not the white musicians.” Regarding his trip to Paris in 1949, Miles Davis offered consensus. “It was the freedom of being in France and being treated like a human being, like someone important. Even the band and the music we played sounded be