News & Updates

- ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF MENSWEAR
- NEW book by Cally Blackman
- Rare photography and illustrations reveal the elegant tailoring of Savile Row and tough khaki and denim of the uniform and workplace giving way to an exuberant array of styles and colours as the century progresses. Packed with images of Hollywood style icons,the artist personalities of the 1930s and more, the evolution of menswear from practical to peacock is explored in an abundance of photographs and illustrations.
  
  The impact of Pierre Cardin, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren and other designers is contrasted with the street fashion of the 1960s, punk and the clubbing scene to bring together the story of the flourishing menswear scene in one invaluable book. This book explores all aspects of menswear from the last 100 years, discussing the importance of the suit and its numerous
  revivals, the impact menswear has had on the female wardrobe, the influence of the gay community on style and of course the way the media can steer our trends. The book is divided into twelve sections covering the ‘Worker & Soldier’, the ‘Player’, the ‘Rebel’, the ‘Peacock’, the ‘Culture Clubber’, the ‘Stylist’ and more.
  
  Cally Blackman is a writer and lecturer and Associate Lecturer at Central Saint Martins
  Publishers Laurence King ISBN 9781856696142 RRP £24.95 Website: http://www.laurenceking.co.uk
- THE AESTHETIC ECONOMY OF FASHION: Markets and Value in Clothing and Modelling
- NEW book by Joanne Entwistle
- Fashion is bound up with promoting the 'new', concerned with constantly changing aesthetics. The favoured styles or looks of a season arise out of the work of a vast range of different actors who collectively produce, select, distribute and promote the new ideals, before moving on to next season. How, then, are fashionable commodities stabilized long enough for them to be selected, distributed and sold? Since there are few studies that actually examine the work that goes on inside the world of fashion, we know little about these processes.
  
  This book addresses this gap in our knowledge by examining how aesthetic products are defined, distributed and valued. It focuses attention on the work of some of the market agents, particularly model agents or 'bookers' and fashion buyers, shaping the aesthetics inside their markets. In analysing their work, Entwistle develops a theoretical framework for understanding the distinctive features of aesthetic marketplaces and the aesthetic calculations within them.
  
  Joanne Entwistle is Senior Research Fellow, London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London and Co-Director of FBMC.
  Publishers Berg ISBN 9781845204730 RRP £19.99. Available to buy from http://www.bergpublishers.com
  Website: http://www.bergpublishers.com
- FBMC Welcomes JOE HANCOCK as Visiting Fellow in June 2009
- Selling Masculinity: Men’s Flagship Stores in London
- As a Visiting Fellow to FBMC Joe will examine British men’s retail stores from the perspectives of Douglas Holt’s cultural branding and Laurence Vincent’s notions of business storytelling. In this analysis, mass fashion spaces and how they generate notions of Baudrillard’s hyperreality in the areas of masculinity and appearance will be interpreted.
  
  One area lacking in fashion research is the study of contemporary men’s branded retail stores. Due to the saturation of the women’s retail market, companies are expanding the men’s side of their businesses by opening “men’s only” stores. In the U.S. such retailers as Gap, Banana Republic, J.Crew and The Art of Shaving are demonstrating that the men’s market is quite strong. There is opportunity to examine how these men’s retail spaces are creating and portraying lifestyles through branding, merchandising strategies, atmospherics, in-store marketing, and products.
  
  Joseph Hancock teaches and conducts research at Drexel University in the Department of Fashion, Design & Merchandising. He has a twenty year retailing background having worked for Gap, Inc., Limited Brands, Inc; and Target Corporation. Joe Hancock's book, 'Brand/Story: Ralph, Vera, Johnny, Billy and Other Adventures in Fashion Branding' will be available from July 2009. Website: http://www.drexel.edu/westphal/about/faculty/?id=104
- FASHIONING THE CITY Paris, Fashion and the Media
- NEW book by Agnès Rocamora
- The fashion media have been central to the consecration of the city of Paris on the fashion map, as well as its celebration in the collective imagination. Indeed, with its conjunction of images and words, the fashion press constitutes a rich platform for an interrogation of how Paris has come to be constituted as a leading fashion city. Yet while much attention has been paid to the making of Paris in the work of various writers and artists, little is known about the city as defined and created by the fashion media.
  
  Based on an original analysis of fashion writing and images in contemporary French fashion magazines and newspapers, this illuminating book focuses on the discourse of the contemporary French fashion press on Paris, and so attends to this gap in studies of the French capital.
  
  Agnès Rocamora is a Senior Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Cultural and Historical Studies at the London College of Fashion and Acting Deputy Co-Director of FBMC. Book cover image: Jambes Jourdan, copyright Jean Larivière, Book Cover design: Syd Shelton, Publishers I.B. Tauris, ISBN 978-1-84511-897-6. RRP £17.99. Available to buy on www.amazon.co.uk Website:
  http://www.ibtauris.com
  http://www.amazon.co.uk
- Fashion & Food
- FBMC Annual Symposium at the ICA, London on Thursday 25th June 2009.
- This symposium offers food for thought about the celebratory and contradictory nature of fashion’s relationship with all things edible.
  
  While haute cuisine and haute couture offer elevated examples of how produce, products and processes can be combined and
  consumed as cultural confections, we retain a taste for cheap clothes and inexpensive food.
  
  The changing style of our eating habits can be traced amongst other things to the discourse of creative cooking and entertaining promoted by fashion magazines, yet these same titles stand accused of peddling fashionable diets and the denial of food as a source of pleasure and possibility.
  
  Come, witness the smorgasbord of speakers and the delights of discussion. To book a space or for further information contact Madeline Widerberg at m.widerberg@fashion.arts.ac.uk.
- Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective
- A Symposium organised in conjunction with the exhibition of Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York from 20 May to 16 August 2009.
- This one-day symposium gathers leading international scholars to discuss a variety of topics relatd to the exhibition.
  
  The first major exhibition in New York in twenty years devoted to one of the most compelling painters of the twentieth century, it features some 130 works that span the entirety of the artists full and celebrated career. Marking the centenary of the artist's birth in Dublin in 1909, the exhibition brings together Bacon's most significant works, focusing on the key subjects and themes that run through this extraordinary creative output. The presentation affords the most comprehensive examination to date of Bacon's sources and working processes, offering a re-evaluation of the artist's work which have emerged since his death in 1992.
  
  Speakers include Nicholas Chare, Barbara Dawson, Martin Hammer, Richard Hornsey, Linda Nochlin, Alistair O'Neill, Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan. Concluding panel discussion moderated by Gary Tinterow.
  
  10am-5pm, Thursday 21 May 2009 Venue: Bonnie J. Sacerdole Hall, Ruth and Harold D. Uris Center for Education, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The Symposium is free with Museum admission, no tickets or reservations are necessary. For further information, call (212) 396-5460 or email lectures@metmuseum.org.
  Website: http://www.metmuseum.org
- Chinese Dress Now
- This is an exhibition featuring WESSIELING’s video work on the Chinese dress.
- From early 20th century Chinese movies to Hollywood production, how Chinese women are eroticised and exoticised in their Chinese dress is captured in the loop of a naked torso. In conjunction with her show is a seminar on her artistic practice and study on the Chinese dress discussing how her research has become part of her artistic processes. Follow suit are the signing of her book, Fusionable Cheongsam, and the PV of Chinese Dress Now.
  
  Dr Wessie Ling is a Senior Lecturer at the London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London.
  
  Exhibition: 09 March - 03 April 2009
  Private View: 6pm-8pm, Thursday 12 March 2009
  Blenheim Walk building
  Leeds College of Art and Design
  Blenheim Walk
  Leeds
  LS2 9AQ
  
  Seminar: 4.30pm-6pm, Thursday 12 March, Lecture Theatre, Leeds College of Art and Design
  Website: http://www.WESSIELING.com
- Hair: Styling, Culture and Fashion edited by Geraldine Biddle-Perry and Sarah Cheang
- This new publication explores the social importance of hair, wherever it grows, explaining the cultural significance of hair and hairiness, and presenting a new critical engagement with hair and its stories, histories, performances and rituals.
- From heads and bodies, to wigs and beards, the presentation, manipulation and daily experience of human hair plays a central and dynamic role within fashion, self-expression and the creation of social identity. The book’s diverse range of cross-cultural essays encompasses the study of hair in fashion, film, art, history, literature, performance and consumer culture.
  
  Offering an accessible mix of visual analysis, cultural commentary and critical theory, Hair: Styling, Culture and Fashion will appeal to all those interested in cultural identity and the body. Published by Berg.
  
  Geraldine Biddle-Perry is associate lecturer in Cultural and Historical Studies at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London.
  
  Sarah Cheang is senior lecturer in Cultural and Historical Studies at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London.
- FBMC welcomes Fashion Designer ANKE LOH as Visiting Fellow
- Anke's project will look at garments functioning as a second skin inspired by and interacting with their environment in the content of "Transnational Spaces”.
- Anke LOH studied fashion at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, earning a BFA in 1998 and an MFA in 1999. Her fashion design has been shown worldwide, including the recent Dressing Light project at UBS Tower and the Chicago Cultural Center; She is currently teaching as an Assistant Professor at ‘The School of the Art Institute of Chicago’, Fashion Department. Website: http://www.ankeloh.net
- FBMC CONSULTANTS FOR BRITISH STYLE GENIUS
- FBMC is the consultant for the major five-part BBC documentary series on British fashion design.
- British Style Genius is a celebration of the attitude and icons that drive the way we dress. The five one-hour programmes aired in October and November on BBC2.
  
  The series examined what makes British fashion and style so distinctive – and so influential. Across the programmes, the looks and trends that have come to define British style, from the high street to high-end couture, from bespoke tailoring to street style, from fashion rebels to traditionalist Sloanes were explored. Website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/britishfashion/