A Philosophy of Fashion Through Film: On the Body, Style, and Identity

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The question of whether movies can deliver philosophical content is a leading topic in the cognitive and analytic debate on film. But instead of turning to the well-trodden terrain of narrative and emotional engagement, this is the first time fashion and costume choices are analyzed to demonstrate how movies can be said to be doing philosophy. Considering how fashion and costumes can deliver the epistemic content of a film and act as a guidance to the interpretation of the philosophical content of a film, Laura T. Di Summa examines fashion and costume choices in classical and contemporary films. She discusses a number of cinematic examples, and the costumes and fashion elements within them, illustrating the importance of issues such as the performative side of fashion, the alteration between novelty and repetition, the pivotal role of the body, and the relation between fashion, style, and individual as well as collective identity. Featuring close examinations of 1950s melodramas, Hollywood blockbusters and documentaries such as All That Heaven Allows, Mad Max Fury Road, and McQueen, Di Summa uses an innovative new lens to provide fresh philosophical analysis of films. The result is not only an advancement of our understanding of the aesthetic means through which film can do philosophy, but the first insights into a philosophy of fashion.

Reviews

In her exciting new book, Laura T. Di Summa opens a new subject for the philosophy of film - movie fashion. Through enlightening discussions of costume design, accessories, and prosthetics as both elements of film style and prompts for questions of personal identity, Di Summa weaves an intricate text of her own. * Mario Slugan, Lecturer in Film, Queen Mary, University of London, UK *
In recent years, theoretical aesthetics has been expanding its purview both in terms of the subjects it finds worthy of attention and of the sources it is willing to consider for philosophical insight. A Philosophy of Fashion Through Film exemplifies both of these tendencies with style and verve. It takes fashion as its topic and examines what it has to say about the expression of selfhood by making the ingenious methodological move of approaching this topic through the optic of cinema where the issue is especially pronounced. Recommended to all lovers of fashion, film, and philosophy. * Noel Carroll, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, USA *
Laura T. Di Summa has written a marvellous book on the philosophy of film, arguing that fashion is performative - something we do, not just something we wear. Drawing on Walter Benjamin and Nol Carroll, she shows with admirable clarity how fashion is woven into cinematic aesthetics. A pleasure to read. * Robert Sinnerbrink, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of Research, Macquarie University, Australia *

Author Bio

Laura T. Di Summa is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at William Paterson University, USA. She is a co-editor of The Palgrave Handbook of the Philosophy of Film and Motion Pictures (2019).