Stella Bruzzi is a lecturer in Film at Royal Holloway, University of London. She has published widely in the areas of cinema and cultural studies and is a regular contributor to Sight and Sound

Bruzzi challenges a number of truisms about the function of fashion in cinema; she argues convincingly that fashion cannot be described or analysed as a mere prop for narrative. This book does nothing less than encourage the reader to think and re-think the last several decades of film theory concerning what films mean and how they appeal to spectators. Bruzzi brings a wealth of knowledge about both fashion and film to her discussions, and the result is both entertaining and enlightening'. - Judith Mayne, Professor of French & Women's studies, Ohio State University

• Part 1 Dressing Up; Chapter 1 Cinema and Haute Couture; Chapter 2 Desire and the Costume Film; Part 2 Gender; Chapter 3 The Instabilities of the Franco-American Gangster; Chapter 4 The Screen’s Fashioning of Blackness; Chapter 5 Clothes, Power and the Modern Femme Fatale; Part 3 Beyond Gender; Chapter 6 The Comedy of Cross-Dressing; Chapter 7 The Erotic Strategies of Androgyny;

Stella Bruzzi is a lecturer in Film at Royal Holloway, University of London. She has published widely in the areas of cinema and cultural studies and is a regular contributor to Sight and Sound

Bruzzi challenges a number of truisms about the function of fashion in cinema; she argues convincingly that fashion cannot be described or analysed as a mere prop for narrative. This book does nothing less than encourage the reader to think and re-think the last several decades of film theory concerning what films mean and how they appeal to spectators. Bruzzi brings a wealth of knowledge about both fashion and film to her discussions, and the result is both entertaining and enlightening'. - Judith Mayne, Professor of French & Women's studies, Ohio State University

• Part 1 Dressing Up; Chapter 1 Cinema and Haute Couture; Chapter 2 Desire and the Costume Film; Part 2 Gender; Chapter 3 The Instabilities of the Franco-American Gangster; Chapter 4 The Screen’s Fashioning of Blackness; Chapter 5 Clothes, Power and the Modern Femme Fatale; Part 3 Beyond Gender; Chapter 6 The Comedy of Cross-Dressing; Chapter 7 The Erotic Strategies of Androgyny;