Until recently fashion was considered the Fword in intellectual circles dismissed as unworthy of serious attention. Yet no area of life no individual moment stands outside fashions discourses. Intuitively we all know that clothing is a language incessantly communicating messages about its wearer. But who speaks this language to whom is it addressed what does it mean and how are its meanings established and transformed On Fashion explores the ways our material political psychological sexual even intellectual lives are woven into fashions fabric. This stimulating collection of essays explores fashions symbolic and figurative functions in photography cinema and video in consumerism postmodernism and feminism in political and material culture and in selfdefinition and subjectivity. They demonstrate the pervasive reach of fashion and its expressions. This collection contains over sixty photographs and illustrations and includes essays by Barbara Brodman Mary Ann Caws Linda Benn DeLibero Hlne Cixous Diana Fuss Cheryl Herr Karla Jay Deborah Jenson Douglas Kellner Ingeborg Majer OSickey Leslie W. Rabine Andrew Ross Sonia Rykiel Carol Shloss Kaja Silverman Maureen Turim and Iris Marion Young.