Fashion writing and criticism. History, theory, practice

169 Pages·2014·1.286 MB·English

by  McNeil, Peter;Miller, Sanda

FASHION WRITING
AND CRITICISM
i
ii
FASHION WRITING
AND CRITICISM
History, Theory, Practice
PETER McNEIL and
SANDA MILLER
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Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square 1385 Broadway
London New York
WC1B 3DP NY 10018
UK USA
www.bloomsbury.com
Bloomsbury is a registered trade mark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published 2014
© Peter McNeil and Sanda Miller, 2014
Peter McNeil and Sanda Miller have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, to be identifi ed as Authors of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system,
without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or
refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by
Bloomsbury or the Authors.
British Library Cataloguing-i n-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: HB: 978-0-8578-5446-9
PB: 978-0-8578-5447-6
ePDF: 978-0-8578-5472-8
ePub: 978-0-8578-5471-1
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n-Publication Data
Fashion writing and criticism : history, theory, practice / Peter McNeil, Sanda Miller
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 987-0-85785-447-6 (paperback) — ISBN 978-0-85785-446-9 (hardback —
ISBN 978-0-85785-471-1 (epub) 1. Fashion writing. I. Miller, Sanda. II. Title.
TT503.5.M36 2014
808.06'674692—dc23
2014010306
Typeset by Refi neCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk

iv
CONTENTS
List of Images vii
Acknowledgements ix
PART ONE WHAT IS CRITICISM? 1
1 Introduction 3
2 Aristotle and the origins of criticism 9
3 Talking in private: the academies and the salons 21
4 Understanding taste: the critic as qualifi ed observer 43
5 Charles Baudelaire: the beginning of fashion criticism; the
art critic of the salons 65
6 Oscar Wilde and the apostles of aestheticism 81
PART TWO REPORTING FASHION 95
Overview 97
Snapshots 101
Fashion and morality: Leo Tolstoy: what is art? 101
Paul Poiret: ‘Sultan of fashion’ – from tradition to innovation 103
Diana Vreeland: ‘Why don’t you?’ – the invention of the fashion editor 105
Christian Dior: the ‘New Look’ and reporting by Carmel Snow 107
Yves Saint Laurent – a 1970s analysis of ‘The couturier and his brand’ 109
What is fashion irony? Mild sarcasm or feigning ignorance? 111
Reporting on the Japanese Revolution in Paris 113
Richard Martin as essayist: Karl Lagerfeld reworks Chanel 116
Being critical about ‘deconstruction’: theoretical approach or ‘le
destroy’? 118
v
vi CONTENTS
What is a reviewer? 121
What gives Suzy Menkes the status of professional critic? 125
Acne Paper: the beauty of print, the splendour of the page 128
How to be a ‘critical’ blogger: moving beyond the PR release 131
Conclusion – where to from here? 137
Notes 139
Bibliography 141
Index 147
LIST OF IMAGES
1 William Hogarth, T he Five Orders of Periwigs as they were
Worn at the Late Coronation Measured Architectonically , 1761,
etching and engraving 22
2 François Boucher, T he Enjoyable Lesson (L’agréable leçon) ,
1748, oil on canvas 33
3 James Quinn, after Jacques-Louis David, M adame Récamier ,
c.1895, oil on canvas 35
4 ‘Critical Observations upon Beauty’, B on Ton Magazine: or
Microscope of Fashion and Folly , 1795 56
5 ‘Cupid’s Tower’, March 1776, and ‘Bunker’s Hill or America’s
Head Dress’, D arly’s Comic Prints , 1776 60
6 Watteau fi ls, designer; Nicolas Dupin, engraver: ‘La belle
engagée par les discours touchans [sic] les tendres sollicitations
d’un aimable Séducteur . . .’, [1785] 69
7 Pierre-Thomas LeClerc, d essinateur , and Charles Emmanuel
Jean Baptiste Patas, g raveur , ‘Vêtement dit à la créole’
[‘clothing said to be in the Creole manner’] 70
8 Honoré Daumier, U n Amateur du Dimanche (A Sunday
Amateur) ‘At the Museum of the Louvre’: ‘Oh! if I had all these
old pictures, how I could sell all these beautiful frames!’, 1865,
lithograph (gillotype) 77
9 Odilon Redon, A nd his name that sat on the pale horse was
Death (. . . et celui que était monté dessus se nommait la Mort
. . .) 1899, lithograph on chine collé 88
10 Louise Dahl-Wolfe, photographer’s proof sheet for H arper’s
Bazaar , 75th anniversary, October 1942 97
11 A.E. Marty, illustrator, L a Pantoufl e de Vair, Danseur Louis XIV
1912 99
12 Louise Dahl-Wolfe, photographer’s proof sheet for H arper’s
Bazaar, December 1951 106
vii
viii LIST OF IMAGES
13 ‘Carmel Snow at work at Harper’s Bazaar’, contact sheet,
photographer unknown 108
14 Cover, Acne Paper , 6th issue, Summer 2008, photograph by
Terry Tsiolis, styling Mattias Karlsson, the model Jonté wearing
a dress by Comme des Garçons 130
15 ‘Alex Gibson-Giorgio’, photographed 20 February 2013 133
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This book began life, as many seem to do, around a breakfast table. It was in
Putney, London, on a May morning several years ago. Valerie Steele had fi rst
brought us together, at one of her innovative symposia held at the Fashion
Institute of Technology in New York. Peter talked about women lusting after
shoes, and Sanda on the dodgy ontology of fashion criticism. A fl ute of
champagne that evening, and a friendship developed.
We wish to thank our families and friends for their support during the writing
of this work. Particular thanks go to our many London based friends, Ian
Henderson, Kwesi Edman, and our mutual Swiss friend Martin Kamer. To the
gentlemen at Diktats Bookstore, Paris, Monsieur Antoine and Monsieur Nicolas,
we are also indebted. We thank the current and former staff at Acne Paper, and
Erika Lunding, Stockholm. We owe a debt to museum curators and assistants,
including Valerie Steele, Patricia Mears and Melissa Marra (Fashion Institute of
Technology, New York); Pamela Parmal (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston); and
Roger Leong and Jennie Moloney (National Gallery of Victoria). The staff of the
Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University, particularly Susan Odell Walker, have been
most helpful. Thanks go to Thi Nguyen for sharing his work. Peter also thanks
the intellectual support of the network Fashioning the Early Modern (Humanities
in the European Research Area), which ran from 2010 to 2013, and the post-
doctoral fellow Dr Patrik Steorn (now Director of Thielska Museet). He is grateful
to Giorgio Riello and Richard Read for their encouragement. Sanda also thanks
her friend and supporter, Professor Laura Bovone (Universita Cattolica, Milan).
Joanna Kalkstein lent Peter the use of the inspirational stone walls of ‘Coomassie’
in the Blue Mountains for the fi nal stage of editing.
Finally we thank our employers, the University of Technology Sydney (and in
particular Professor Desley Luscombe), Stockholm University, as well as
Southampton Solent University, specifi cally professors Jane Longmore, Rod
Piling and Maurice Owen; and Istituto Marangoni (London), specifi cally Monica
Cattorini (director of the London campus), Adrien Parry Roberts (director of
academic education) and Sanda’s special colleague and friend Filippo Piccardi.
Peter dedicates this book to Simon Lee, who reads fashion blogs daily, and
Sanda to Noa, Giulia and Neil for being family.
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