Fashion Crimes: Dressing for Deviance

(Paperback)

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Description

Fashion is widely recognised as a site for social acceptance and rejection, and as a signifier of personal identity. What happens when people stray from appropriate dress codes or associate garments with respectability or deviance How does fashion relate to criminality In this interdisciplinary volume, leading scholars propose new ways of seeing everyday dress and the body in public space. Garments and individual or group wearers are used as case studies to explore the codification of clothing as criminal hoodies, trench-coats, Norwegian Lustkoffe sweaters, low-slung trousers and Hip Hop styling are all untangled as garments with criminal significance. The book questions the point at which morality as a form of social control meets criminality, and suggests ways to renegotiate established dress codes and terms such as suitability and glamour through the study of what people wear in response to notions of criminality.

Reviews

The collection of essays in this book offers an insightful look at the unspoken sartorial coding featured in society ... While there is other published research on symbolism of clothing and limitations imposed, such as sumptuary laws, this book is unique in that it demonstrates sociocultural and political consequences of clothing in contemporary society. * The Journal of Dress History *
[Fashion Crimes] offers intriguing and well-considered takes on dress and criminality, discussions that scholars in the field should find worthwhile. Summing Up: Recommended. * CHOICE *
This original and ground-breaking book skilfully unpicks the links between crime and clothing. It is a must-read for anyone interested in how the state legislates what we wear, how the media sensationalises specific styles, and how wearers deemed deviant express themselves through clothing. * Alison Matthews David, Ryerson University, Canada *
Capturing the scandalous ways sartorial practices connect to criminal activities, Fashion Crimes is a thought-provoking exploration of socio-cultural and political meanings entangled with dress and deviancy. * Thersa M. Winge, Michigan State University, USA *
In this truly unique volume, diverse essays challenge established methodologies of dress studies and move the subject area forward. This is an original contribution to a fascinating area of study. * Emmanuelle Dirix, Antwerp Fashion Academy, Belgium *
Well-structured ... interesting for anyone using clothes as an expression of ideals in a world that becomes increasingly tokenistic and tribal and where the way you look has a tangible impact on societal behaviours and become a means of performative communication. * Scene Point Blank *

Author Bio

Joanne Turney is Associate Professor at Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton. She is the author of The Culture of Knitting (2009).