Fashion in Action – serie

What if we took 'slow' as an ethical strategy and practice for fashion, rather than considering ‘slow fashion’ as another passing fashion movement? Part of the Fashion in Action series of short books on global issues in fashion, calling on readers to become active participants in its future, Hazel Clark explores fashion's cultural role as a potential force for, not against, sustainability. Against a backdrop of massive waste, intensive energy use, human exploitation and over-consumption of fast fashion, Slow offers a thoughtful, practical, sustainable approach to fashion for businesses, educators and ordinary wearers of clothes, speaking to more mindful, caring and humanitarian attitudes and practices.Divided into 3 sections, the argument is framed by neoliberalism, and the increased attention to fashion around the globe, set alongside growing interest in eco design, the slow food movement, second hand clothes and the emergence of ethical brands. The book begins with ‘where we are now,’ focussing on the emergence and huge impact of fast fashion. The next section looks at the way a slow discourse developed for fashion – in practice, in academia and in public. More mindful and slow approaches are set against greater global connectivity, digital communications, climate change and activism. This leads to a third and final section which seeks for a redefinition of fashion through the lens of slow approaches, ending with an urgent call to action. With references to good fashion practices and ideas from around the globe throughout, this book offers real guidance, and, crucially, advocates that real engagement with a 'slow' approach to fashion offers a more sustainable future for all.

What is cultural appropriation in fashion and how can understanding its causes, consequences and reoccurrences help us to challenge it in the future? As part of the Fashion in Action series of short books aimed at rallying readers on global issues in fashion, Benjamin Linley Wild highlights the long and complicated history of appropriation, guiding us on the pressing question of where we go next.Chapter one considers where we have been - what are the words we have used and what theories continue to frame and potentially hinder discussions about appropriation within the fashion industry? Chapter two moves on to where we are now - what does appropriation look like in the fashion industry and how can understanding this help both educators and consumers overcome the circularity of the current debates? Chapter three draws together the theories and their potential implications to unravel the riddle of appropriation and enable us to look to the future with suggested calls for action.This timely book equips readers with the tools to navigate and reshape the conversation around cultural appropriation, encouraging meaningful action for a more conscious and inclusive fashion industry.

Fashion thrives on fame and success, capitalism and culture. But beneath the luster and hype, fashion is also inevitably about failure – an essential part of its history and evolution. In his contribution to the Fashion in Action series of short books rallying readers to tackle pressing issues in fashion, Nick Rees-Roberts unravels the relationship between forms of creative and commercial failure to consider how we might begin to address the systemic failings of the fashion industry today. Positing failure as a speculative way to rethink fashion and focussing on the checkered histories of a number of designers and brands, Rees-Roberts explores how forms of commercial failure within a capitalist framework might actually be productive, enabling designers to retain independence and balance by potentially opting out of the fashion establishment, if not of the system altogether. He then goes on to look at the broader systemic failures of the 21st-century fashion industry, arguing that rather than keep focussing on doing and making, we should be undoing and remaking the idea of fashion itself in order to rethink design outside of the framework of a hyper-globalized industry.By applying failure as a critical mode of inquiry, this book invites readers to consider a new direction for the future of fashion – one that values resilience and reinvention over the relentless pursuit of the next big success.