Fashion | Sense: On Philosophy and Fashion

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Fashion | Sense is designed to explode fashion, and with it, the stigma in philosophy against fashions superficiality. Fashion appears to be altogether differently occupied, disingenuous and insubstantial, even sophistic in its pretense to peddle surfaces as if they were something deep. But is fashions apparent beguilement more philosophical than it seems And is philosophys longing for exposed depth concealing fashion in its anti-fashion stance Using primarily ancient Greek texts, peppered with allusions to their echoes across the history of philosophy and contemporary fashion and pop culture, Gwenda-lin Grewal not only examines the rift between fashion and philosophy, but also challenges the claim that fashion is modern. Indeed, fashions quarrel with philosophy may be at least as ancient as that infamous quarrel between philosophy and poetry alluded to in Platos Republic. And the quest for fashions origins, as if a quest for a neutrally-outfitted self, stripped of the self-awareness that comes with thinking, prompts questions about human agency and our immersion in time. The touch of realitys fabric bristles in our relationship to our looks, not simply through the structure of clothes but in the plot of our wearing them. Meanwhile, the fashion of our words sharpens our meaning like a cutting silhouette. Grewals own writing is playfully and daringly self-conscious, aware of its style and the entrapment it arouses from the very first line. The reactions provoked by fashions flair, not only among the philosophical set but also among those who would never deck themselves out in the title, philosopher, show it forth as perhaps philosophys most important and underestimated doppelgnger.

Reviews

Fashion | Sense: On Philosophy and Fashion is a brilliant book... [T]he book is extremely original in writing and thinking. Grewal has style in spades, and this style creates (or rather is) her considerable substance. The book thrums with energy and wit, and it was an absolute pleasure to read. It took my breath away. * Fashion Theory *
This rich, knowledgeable, variegated book challenges easy assumptions about fashions modernity. Grewal juxtaposes contemporary manifestations of fashion with situations and characters from ancient literatures in an expert pursuit of fashion-thinking, where fashion-thinking means philosophys engagement with dress, but also fashions own mode of reflection. * Nickolas Pappas, Professor of Philosophy, The City University of New York Graduate Center, USA *
A fascinating book by a great new talent which wholly successfully drags philosophy out the closet. In writing that is at once clear and deep, classically informed and very funny, Grewal makes a wholly convincing case for the kinship of philosophy and fashion. Highly recommended." * Simon Critchley, Hans Jonas Professor, The New School for Social Research, New York *
FASHION | SENSE is Gwenda-lin Grewals brilliant meditation, deeply erudite but also playful and full of wit, on clothing as disguise, revelation, acquiescence, transformation, identity, and second self, as the "bodies we put on." In Grewals hands the age-old argument between philosophy and fashion, the things of the mind and the things of the body, is scintillatingly renewed. * Salman Rushdie, Distinguished Writer in Residence, New York University, USA *
Fashion | Sense: On Philosophy and Fashion by Gwenda-lin Grewal explores how philosophers underestimate fashion's power in their search for the naked truth. Mercifully devoid of academic jargon and pomposity, the book is studded with brilliant and often witty observations on the unexpected parallels between philosophy and fashion. * Valerie Steele, Director and Chief Curator, The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, USA *

Author Bio

Gwenda-lin Grewal is the Onassis Lecturer in Ancient Greek Thought and Language at The New School for Social Research, USA. Her other publications include English translations of Platos Phaedo (2018) and Cratylus (forthcoming) and the book, Thinking of Death in Platos Euthydemus: A Close Reading and New Translation (2022). She is also the recipient of the Blegen Research Fellowship in Greek and Roman Studies at Vassar College and an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in Humanities at Yale University, USA.