McNeil, P: Fashion Writing and Criticism

Acknowledgements List of illustrations Part 1 What is Criticism? Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Aristotle and the origins of criticism Chapter 3 Talking in private: the Academies and the Salons Chapter 4 Understanding Taste: The Critic as Qualified Observer Chapter 5 Charles Baudelaire: the Beginning of Fashion Criticism; The Art Critic of the Salons Chapter 6 Oscar Wilde and the apostles of aestheticism Part 2 Reporting Fashion: Overview Snapshots Fashion and morality: Leo Tolstoy's What is Art? Paul Poiret: 'sultan of fashion' - from tradition to innovation Diana Vreeland: 'Why Don't you?' - the invention of the fashion editor Christian Dior: the 'New Look' and reporting by Carmel Snow Yves Saint Laurent - a 1970s analysis of 'The couturier and his brand' What is fashion irony? Mild sarcasm or feigning ignorance? Reporting on the Japanese revolution in Paris Richard Martin as essayist: Karl Lagerfeld reworks Chanel Being critical about 'deconstruction': theoretical approach or 'le destroy'? What is a reviewer? - and how can we recognise one? What gives Suzy Menkes the status of professional critic? ACNE Paper: the beauty of print, the splendour of the page How to be a 'critical' blogger: Moving beyond the PR Release Conclusion: where do we go from here? Bibliography Index

Peter McNeil is Professor of Design History at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. Sanda Miller is Senior Research Fellow at Southamtpon Solent University, UK, and Associate Lecturer at Istituto Marangoni, London, UK.