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Date: Mon 08 Jan 2007, 18:39 -0500
From: Fuat Firat <firatf@utpa.edu>

We outline some key themes that may be pursued for this special issue. These are by no means exhaustive but they provide some contours as starting points:

1. Fashion reveals. Marcel Mauss once described fashion – the way we dress and accessorize ourselves – as techniques of the body that reflect not only how we want others to view us but also how we see ourselves. Judging by the number of bestsellers on the topic, it seems that we can’t get enough of “the fashioned body.” But, fashioning the body and reflecting fashion with the body are two subtly different concepts.
2. Fashion makes social statements. Designer brands (e.g., luxury and /or trendy labels) provide a sense of worth, place and self-expression. According to Erwing Goffman, what we choose to wear pantomimes a performance of everyday life, one in which we focus on materials and images as a way of negotiating the boundaries between who we are and our surroundings.
3. Fashion labels. Styles encourage stereotype. It draws us into the cultural practice of judging by appearances yet does not resolve the ambiguity of what a particular look means. Appearances could be one thing, identity something else. Dress and decoration do not always “speak” or even need to be ‘read.”
4. Fashion sells. Couture drives a multi-billion-dollar industry, a global phenomenon – but not necessarily a western phenomenon. However, the historical development of the fashion industry in the West meant that at times, in the name of profit-making, purveyors of styles have deemed it necessary to downplay or obscure altogether the country of origin (e.g. East Asia), where most of clothes manufacturing occurs. Nonetheless, fashion is part and parcel of global capitalism and the divide between global and the local in this fluid industry is never clear-cut.
5. Fashion is sexy – and sexist. Dressing the female body not uncommonly occurs as the result of a male’s ideal of femininity and beauty. That said, times, like fashion, they have been a-changing. Some power suits look more formidable in heels and can be playful, esthetic and empowering.
6. Fashion, by its own definition, is perpetual change and metamorphosis, feeding on the consumer’s predilection for everything and anything new, different and interesting. In this industry, “new” could quickly turn passé, while “old” becomes hip “retro” and “vintage.”
7. Fashion defies boundaries. The trend towards a multi-cultural fashion regime has somewhat blunted the dominance of the West in defining style since international, ethnic, alternative, and street fashion have all paraded down Europe’s runways. But could these “exotic” looks and images be anything more than stereotyped versions of the “other?” On the other hand, the editors of Fashion Theory have defined fashion as” the cultural construction of embodied identity.”
8. Intentionally, “anti-fashion” offers an alternative to the dominance of Haute Couture. On its won, anti-fashion could be avant-garde.  It could also be counterproductive if the rebellious designers were only perpetuating Western couture’s ideal of “dress (as opposed to fashion) from the rest of the world.”  Lastly,
9. Fashion evolves. Innovations and changes in the world of styles are being spearheaded and influenced by new digital technologies, which always look to creating the next “in” look. The connections between materialism and society have hardly been explored, and the social conditions that drive new innovations is ripe for examination.

As mentioned above, these are possible topics for exploration although the Journal would entertain other manuscripts that deal with aspects of fashion cultures and discourses not discussed above.

The Guest Editor for this special issue is Dr. Annamma Joy.  All correspondence regarding this special issue should be directed to the Guest Editor at Joyjamyanna@yahoo.com. Eligible papers should take into consideration the editorial policy and intended audience of Consumption, Markets & Culture [], as well as the particular focus and intent of this special issue. Manuscripts should be submitted by email no later than December 1, 2007 to Joyjamyanna@yahoo.com and /or jjoy@jmsb.concordia.ca  in accordance with the journal submission guidelines to be found at . The aim is to publish the special issue in 2008/2009. Authors of papers that are currently under review or who will submit their manuscript before the special issue due date, may indicate if they wish to have their paper published in the special issue upon acceptance.