Fashion and Psychoanalysis: Styling the Self

248 Pages·2012·2.35 MB·English

by  Alison Bancroft

Alison Bancroft is a writer and cultural critic. She specialises in
interdisciplinary approaches to modern and contemporary art and
visual culture, and is committed to working across all media and
contexts. Her research interests include visual culture and theory,
psychoanalytic thought, and sexualities. She was awarded her PhD by
the University of London in 2010. This is her first book.
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Fashion and Psychoanalysis
Styling the Self
Alison Bancroft
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Published in 2012 by I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd
6 Salem Road, London W2 4BU
175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
www.ibtauris.com
Distributed in the United States and Canada Exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan
175 Fifth Avenue, New York NY 10010
Copyright © 2012 Alison Bancroft
The right of Alison Bancroft to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988.
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part
thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
International Library of Cultural Studies: 23
ISBN: 978 1 78076 003 2 (hb)
978 1 78076 004 9 (pb)
A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library
A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available
Typeset in Caslon by JCS Publishing Services Ltd, www.jcs-publishing.co.uk
Printed and bound in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall
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For my grandmother, Emma Byers, who showed by example
the importance of always being well-dressed.
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Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction 1
1 Fashion Photography and the Myth of the Unified Subject 23
2 Inspiring Desire: The Case for Haute Couture 59
3 Queering Fashion, Dressing Transgression 103
4 Fashion, Text, Symptom 149
Conclusion 189
Notes 199
Bibliography 221
Index 235

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Acknowledgements
I would firstly like to thank Philippa Brewster and her team at
I.B.Tauris for their support and their guidance in getting this book to
print. I must also thank a number of colleagues for their insights into
psychoanalysis, art, fashion and French, without which I would almost
certainly have committed some embarrassing oversights. They are:
Jacqueline Rose, Peter Evans and Michael Moriarty at Queen Mary,
University of London and Tim Dean at SUNY Buffalo. A thank
you also to Jessica Bugg from the London College of Fashion, who
provided the cover image for this book. Special mention must go to
Lisa Downing at Exeter University for her intellectual generosity and
the many kindnesses she has shown me since we met in 2005.
Thanks also go to the Journal of Fashion Theory (published by Berg)
and Sexualities (published by Sage), who first published versions of
Chapters 2 and 3 of this book and who have allowed me to reprint
them.
And finally, to all those who have provided me with support,
friendship, refreshments and entertainments while this book was
being written – thank you. You know who you are.

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