Fashion and City Life

 First Published in 2004. "The Face of Fashion" is a study of fashion and the body which aims to establish the relations between codes and systems of clothing and the conduct of everyday life. Jennifer Craik questions the trickle-down theory that fashion is dictated by elite designers and opinion leaders with evidence of a trickle-up effect from sub-cultures, mass consumer behaviour and everyday bricolage of fashion items. The text addresses the neglected area of men's fashion, as well as women's fashion, within a broad examination of the role of fashion in gender identity. The argument is developed through a number of key agencies and processes: consumerism and everyday fashion; the iconization of the body through fashion models and photography; the use of cosmetics to "make-up" the bod...