Choose any two of Christopher Breward’s aphorisms from his foreword to Fashion Studies, which you read in Week 1. Explain what each of the two aphorisms means (in your own words) and explain why you agree or disagree with them.
The first aphorism I choose from Breward is:Fashion moves in space and time. It shares in the complexity of physics and mathematics, making pattern and networks, forming mazes and constellations. Through its form we have an opportunity re-unite ate and science and to heal the rift of the two cultures.
There is this idea that art and science cannot be married in the world- that they contradict one another. This is where to me, architecture and fashion design mend that divide. They use math and science to think creatively about objects with limitations (bodies, space/ rooms, purpose) in a 2D to 3D process. When people engage with fashion, they experience a process of convergence of time and space. 2
The second aphorism I choose is:Fashion is made manifest in material forms. It demands study in the same way that ancient artifacts are made meaningful by archaeologist: through careful excavation.
Fashion is a tool that uses fabric and fibers to create a material that unfortunately does not last forever. This gives value to fashion as a product of history- telling stories of humans’ past. Fashion is something that requires more than just one single field and range to study it from. It needs evaluation from multiple perspectives, fields, theories and methods to properly analyze fashion and truly understand a garment. Fashion studies is comprised of anthropology, sociology, art history, literature, gender studies, ethnic studies, etc1
2
Kaiser, Susan B. “Fashion and Cultural Studies.” Amazon, Berg, 2012, www.amazon.com/Fashion-Cultural-Studies-Susan-Kaiser/dp/1847885640.
1 Breward, Christopher. “Fashion Studies.” Bloomsbury Publishing, Bloomsbury, bloomsbury.com/uk/fashion-studies-9781472583185/.
