Experimental Fashion

Reviews / Votes

This is a timely book in that many of the concepts discussed resonate strongly with the current cultural context: gynophobia and fear of the fat feminine body; neoliberalism, corporate greed and the "enterprising self"; and fear of border crossings and the breakdown of cultural categories. * Morna Laing, "Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body and Culture" * The strengths of this book are two-fold, both reframing Bakhtin's theory of the Grotesque body as a tool for the analysis of fashion and also its ability to theorize the very edges of fashion [...] [I]n doing so, Granata does both fashion studies and design history a great service. * Ellen Sampson, "The Journal of Design History" * A very welcome contribution to the field of fashion studies, not least through its attention to an aspect of fashion-experimental fashion-that has so far been given little attention. * Agnes Rocamora, Reader in Social and Cultural Studies at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts, London and author of "Fashioning the City" * [H]er work begins to bridge a gap in literature concerned with the intersections of fashion practice and performance art. [...] While Granata's work is both methodologically and theoretically complex it is presented with absolute clarity and this level of accessibility is highly commendable. * Fenella Hitchcock, "Costume: The Journal of The Costume Society" * Granata continually reconsiders the grotesque within the contexts of different fields of both culture and academe. Borrowing from psychoanalysis, feminist theory, performance and film studies, she creates a vivid narrative that inspects grotesque corporealities in a variety of cultural forms through meticulous analysis of primary sources. * Jana Melkumova-Reynolds, "International Journal of Fashion Studies" *