The dressed and styled human body is irresistible to analyse. Framed by the idea that people’s dress and engagement with Fashion is a fundamental component of how we all conceive, create and convey personal and shared histories, the following ‘mini-essays’ are my attempt to unpick the cultural threads that hold our wardrobes together. Aide-mémoires, tongue-in-cheek, discursive, works-in-progress, I began writing them in 2013 in the spirit of Roland Barthes’ Mythologies and Umberto Eco’s Travels in Hyper Reality, although rarely with the same perspicacity, precision and pace.
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46. The Christmas Jumper (2)
The following is a longer version of a piece that I was commissioned to write for George at ASDA. An abridged version appeared in the Sunday Express. Few Christmas traditions generate as much amusement and attention as the Christmas jumper, with the possible exception of the Brussels sprout. And like the sprout, the jumper’s ability…
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45. The David Hockney Effect
The text of this post is based on a talk I gave at the Royal Academy on Saturday for RA Lates’ ‘A Hockney Happening’. Before reading further, pause for a few seconds. Close your eyes and conjure an image David Hockney in your mind. So, what did your Hockney look like? Probably something like the…
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44. The Vogue (Centenary) Shoot
Photographing the Duchess of Cambridge for the centenary cover of British Vogue was surely an obvious choice. Few people at present seem to inspire as much popular sympathy, pique as much interest and reflect the magazine’s focus on high style and high society, than the wife of Britain’s future king. Deciding whom to photograph was…
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43. The Neoteny Principle
The following is based on a talk that I gave recently with Rising Minds in London… As a historian – by training and quite possibly by nature – who researches and lectures on the subject of fashion and who works with luxury fashion companies, I sometimes feel like a pilgrim in an unholy land. Why?…
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42. The Stag
If you want to understand the development of men’s dress, all you need do is think about the stag. Associated with hunting, family crests, a popular sports car from the Triumph Motor Company and the name of many English pubs, the stag also exhibits many characteristics typically associated with men: it is proud, territorial and…
Dr Benjamin Wild 