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Opposition to fashion can take many forms. Above the Big Lebowski bathrobe is a simple disinterest in adornment or to unite or separate. Other types of opposition include opposition to Western aesthetics that dominate the fashion industry, opposition to the forms of fashion as fixed, and oppositions to the rules of the fashion industry evident in counterfeiting. Speak to the children of Israel and say to them they should make themselves tzitzit on the corners of their clothing throughout their generations, and give the tzitzit of each corner a thread of blue. And they shall be tzitzit for you, and when you look at them you will remember all of the Lord's commandments and do them and not follow after your heart and after your eyes which lead you astray. Numbers 15 The above Jewish text is a call for believers to distinguish themselves from others through clothing. This is part of what we have learned about fashion as adornment and a tool to unite and separate groups. The meaningf...

by Bianca Murillo “What I find interesting is working in a society with certain taboos - and fashion photography is about that kind of society. To have taboos, then to get around them - that's interesting” said controversial fashion photographer Helmut Newton (Benfey). Nudity in fashion editorials is often a point of controversy because it does just that—attempts to traverse social taboos resulting in an interesting set of power dynamics to explore. Nudity in fashion images possesses power in that its use captures attention by contesting norms and serving as a platform for social critique. Through breaking from the ordinary the use of nudity asserts a quality of rank and control rendering the images powerful. Helmut Newton's photography established a particular style using nudity and strong women marked by erotic and fetishtic scences, blurring the line between art and pornography. Newton's influence today is embodied in Vogue Paris' Nov 2009 spread ...

By Sydney Kipen As a complex and integral part of the modern world, fashion plays an influential role in society, portraying one’s position, both privately and publically. The store window serves to demonstrate the function of fashion to the public in a manner recreating certain idealized views of society. The different types of sto res that exist in our consumer-based society each display different extents of power in their windows, and either retain that power to communicate their message, or give the power to their audience to interpret. Thus it is important to determine who has the power in the outlet of display: the window or the audience? Chanel window at 31 Rue Cambon In examination of the store window in Paris, the capital of fashion, the difference in the power of display between a department store window, a luxury store window, and a democratized store window is juxtaposed with their respective and distinct audiences. Although the window controls the power of perception and...

Chelsea Turner The Ethics of Counterfeiting in the Fashion Industry: Quality, Credence and Profit Issues by Brian Hilton, Chong Ju Choi, and Stephen Chen focuses on great problem in the fashion industry: the issue of counterfeiting and the ethical issues that are raised by it. The authors delve into the issue that the problem may lie in the industry itself, meaning that it is the fashion houses that may need to change in order to solve the issue. According to the International Chamber of Commerce, seven percent of world trade is in counterfeit goods, and that the counterfeit market is worth $350 billion. Part of this is due to the difficulty that exists in enforcing the few laws that do exist against counterfeiting, and sadly most cases of counterfeiting are rarely prosecuted Fashion, specifically high-end clothing and accessories, is one of the most highly publicized sectors of counterfeiting. There are different types of goods that can be counterfeited. The concept of “credence goods...

by Zo-Ee Chee “The Islamic Factor” is a chapter from the 1988 book entitled “ The Fashion Conspiracy” which reveals some of the fashion industry’s most provocative secrets. The author, Nicholas Coleridge, is the Managing Director of Cond é Nast (Vogue, GQ, Glamour etc.) in Britain and oversees the publishing company’s branches in Paris and Mumbai. He has also been a chairman of the PPA (the Magazine Publishers Association) and of the British Fashion Council. Needless to say, Coleridge is an authority on the inner workings of the fashion world. Published just before the Gulf War (1991), the chapter details the importance of the Middle East as a source of income for couturiers and the relationship that the fashion industry has with clients from the Gulf as both an empowering and undermining force. As a largely informative approach, “The Islamic Factor” describes the somewhat contradictory nature of Middle Eastern taste for couture due to the heavy censorship and the desire for a modes...

By Elleree Erdos French fashion photographer Patrick Demarchelier has revolutionized fashion photography with his truthful approach to the photograph; by maintaining ties with the tradition of his medium, truth to the apparatus of vision and spontaneity, and continuous engagement with portraits as exposure to emotion, Demarchelier has become an ambassador of truth in the field of fashion photography. His force in the fashion world is in his ability to make this truth acceptable in a field immersed in illusion, introducing his own hegemonic principle of the fashion photograph and implementing it to its full effect. Demarchelier legitimizes his practice and overturns the dominant hegemony of falsity in the fashion photograph by maintaining consistency in both his photographic and his personal, “celebrity” image. Click here to view Patrick Demarchelier's commercial reel. Demarchelier worked at the same time as avant-garde photographers such as Helmut Newton and Guy Bourdin, who ph...