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The Fashion Business: Theory, Practice, Image

Introduction

The Fashion Business:

Theory, Practice, Image

Nicola White and Ian Griffiths

This book derives from a series of lectures organised by Kingston University
in collaboration with the Italian manufacturer retailer MaxMara. The
lectures, entitled ‘Perspectives in Fashion’, were launched in 1994 to explore
emerging themes in the history and theory of fashion, with the objective of
considering them in the context of contemporary industrial practice. Both
Kingston and MaxMara shared the view that this would primarily benefit
students of fashion design, opening their eyes to the intellectual significance
of their chosen field, and would consequently be of service to the industry
itself.
The lecture series represented an opportunity to consolidate the diverse
lines of approach that were being pursued in the name of fashion, often in
isolation. Since its inception, around five lectures have been presented each
year by a broad spectrum of speakers: historians, academics and curators,
designers, industrialists, magazine editors, journalists and public relations
consultants. It was envisaged that this would constitute a multi-disciplinary
arena which would enable the progressive formulation of a more useful,
holistic view of this complex subject than single prescriptive approaches could
allow. It was hoped that understanding of contributory disciplines would be
enriched by the dynamic established between them.
Although the historical ambivalence towards fashion in academic circles
is widely acknowledged, the lecture series was established at a time when
this situation seemed to be changing.
The history and theory of fashion has, over the past decade, become a
field of unprecedented academic interest, some interdisciplinary tensions and
lively methodological disputes, which the lecture series has naturally reflected.