With so much focus on contemporary theory, it is easy to forget that the serious
analysis of clothing and fashion has a long history. In fact, they have been the
subject of intense cultural debate since the nineteenth century. Fashion
Classics provides an interpretative overview of the groundbreaking and often
idiosyncratic writings of eight theorists whose work has profoundly influenced
the conceptual and theoretical basis of our contemporary understanding of
clothes and the fashion system.
Carter fully revives early 'fashion theorists' - some canonical and others less
well known - and examines them in light of more recent work. From Carlyle's
fantastical character Professor Teufelsdrockh, through the