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Basic Books

Dressed: A Philosophy of Clothes

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Description

Perfect for readers of Women in Clothes, this beautifully designed philosophical guide to fashion explores art, literature, and film to uncover the hidden meaning of a well-chosen wardrobe. We all get dressed. But how often do we pause to think about what our clothes say? When we dress ourselves, we are presenting to the world an essence of who we are, who we want to be. Dressed ranges freely from suits to suitcases, from Marx's coat to Madame X's gown. Through art and literature, film and philosophy, philosopher Shahidha Bari unveils the surprising personal implications of what we choose to wear. The impeccable cut of Cary Grant's suit projects masculine confidence, just as Madonna's oversized denim jacket and her armful of orange bangles loudly announces big ambition. How others dress tells us something fundamental about them -- we can better understand how people live and what they think through their garments. Clothes tell our stories. Dressed is the thinking person's fashion book. In baring the hidden power of clothes in our culture and our daily lives, Bari reveals how our outfits not only cover our bodies but also reflect our minds. Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books


Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more


Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 17, 2020


Edition ‏ : ‎ Illustrated


Language ‏ : ‎ English


File size ‏ : ‎ 10.4 MB


Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported


Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled


X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • very well structured and engaging
Format: Kindle
This is the best book i have found about fashion! It felt like it was speaking to my soul most of the read. I loved how there were short stories about different types of fashion throughout culture and history, as well as touching on the philosophical principles behind these stories. And the structure of the chapters are very satisfying, organized by category of clothes. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2022 by Elise
    • Captures what we all feel about getting dressed – it's hard
Format: Hardcover
I bought this book at the Strand Bookstore in NYC. I have worked in fashion for 20+ years, and just wrote a book about it myself. Bari truly captures the essence of how all feel about getting dressed but can't put into words ourselves. In fact, she very eloquently makes a case for why we put so much importance on getting dressed even though it is so hard to do, "...it is astonishing that we ever find the courage to keep trying, as we do every day." It is quite interesting to look at fashion from this philosophical perspective, and I really enjoyed this read. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2023 by Sonia P.
    • It's a good book, but overly long.
Format: Hardcover
I bought this book after hearing the author do an interview and I thought the subject was interesting. It is clearly well-researched by someone who obviously has a passion for the subject, but it is very overly long and drags on in spots. The author has a real problem with making her point and then continuing to make it over and over again. It becomes quite repetitive in spots. I think the book would have really benefited from exploring a much wider range of garments in shorter sections, or perhaps from being more heavily illustrated and less verbose, coffee-table-book style. There's really only so much you can write about the philosophical symbolism of suit jackets before you're just repeating yourself for 15 pages. The writing itself is very good and I learned some fun new words to drop into conversations, like vicissitudes and tenebrous. All in all, I would recommend it if you like philosophy and fashion, but I would warn someone that it takes a bit of patience to get through some parts. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2020 by J.
    • This is a Philosophy Textbook
This is a deep, complex, elitist textbook broadly on the subject of fashion. It isn't at all what I expected. As a lifelong student of self-expression through fashion and style, and the history of such expression, I was deeply disappointed in this book. It is a fairly boring read full of drudgery and lacking in visual imagery. The author obviously took a lot of time creating this carefully sourced book, but she was self indulgent and lost site of potential readers beyond herself. She seemed very keen on showing off her academic prowess and knowledge of complex literary works and their authors. She seemed far less concerned about artfully inspiring or showing readers her intended meaning through illustration. There are very few visuals. Imagine a book about architecture or interior design or any art form without illustrations or, at best, with a paltry number of small, obscure and uninteresting photos sparsely placed throughout the book as if in afterthought. The book is called Dressed. However one dresses or whatever the cultural influences may be in our choices around dressing, it is a passionate affair between ourselves and the physically visual impact we aspire to and achieve through our clothing and other adornments when we dress. It is how we communicate to the world through personal visual expression. I expected as much thought to have gone into the photographs and illustrations as those applied to the vast number of words used in this book. There were hardly any. Who wants to read about the art, culture, philosophy, psychology and history of the choices we make when dressing without any photos or illustrations? I have an English degree, I love words, but I don't want to spend hours and hours reading a wordy textbook about how people dress. I want pictures too. This book is too much work, and it fell flat. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2020 by Washington Resident
    • Rambling and unfocused, except on Freud
Format: Hardcover
"Dressed" is written in lovely language, but generally it uses that language to guide you in circles and along rambling paths that lead nowhere. This was less philosophy of clothes and more loosely themed literary and art critique, and while that can be interesting at times, I almost always found myself asking, "Where is this going? What is the point?" and never really feeling like the book answered my questions. If you are looking for a book that ties clothing to cultural relevance and philosophy, try "The Golden Thread" by Kassia St. Clair. If you are looking for an inordinate amount of Freud references, read this. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2022 by Rachel Ash
    • Great topic, poor writing
Format: Hardcover
The topic is interesting, but the book feels elitist and far too professorial. The language used is not something anybody would use in conversation, making it impossible to read through.
Reviewed in the United States on June 27, 2022 by ABReviews

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