The Invisible Manacademic circles. Those thousands of graduates of fashion design have passed
into oblivion.
As a final illustration of this, I refer to the chapter of Malcolm Barnard’s
Fashion and Communication entitled ‘Fashion, Clothing and Meaning’, in
which the author debates the possible agents for the generation of meaning
in clothes: the designer, the wearer or spectator, and authorities. He argues,
logically, that because designers’ views are so frequently sought in the popular
media, it is clear that many believe the designers’ intentions are the sole source
of meaning in their work, but that if it were so, it would not be possible for
the meaning of clothes to vary according to time or place. A similar argument
concludes that the wearer cannot be responsible for the meaning of a garment
either since, if it were so, no different interpretations could not exist. Thence,
the argument proceeds into semiology, the arbitrary nature of signs and issues
of denotation and connotation, syntagons and paradigms, myths and
ideologies, without ever having given an example, illustration or without
ever having named, quoted or studied a single stitch, sketch or without
considering that there might be different ‘realities’ under the general heading
of fashion.^50
An Episode from the Life of a DesignerThe final part of this essay is a short case study which is intended to
demonstrate the kind of empirical analyses which might provide some answers
to Davis’ question:
What does the shortened hemline or double breasted suit mean to those, who,
cautiously, are among the first in their social circle to adopt them? How do these
meanings, elusive or inchoate as they may be, relate to the meanings that proceeded
and will follow them in the fashion cycle. Why do some new meanings (read
fashion) ‘click’ while other ‘fizzle’?^51Part of my work as a designer with the MaxMara group has been on the
‘Weekend by MaxMara’ range. Weekend is MaxMara’s relaxed cousin, an
informal collection which uses ‘classic’ inspiration, that is to say our research
usually focuses on reinventing or modifying categories of garment which
have recognizable generic features, such as aran sweaters, duffel coats or
safari jackets. The customer prioritizes an essential aspect of ‘correctness’,
- Barnard, M., Fashion as Communication, London: Routledge, 1996, pp. 69–95.
- Davis, F., Fashion, Culture and Identity, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994, p.