Masked
Anonymity, Empowerment, and Identity in Fashion and Popular Culture
Published on 11. June 2026
224 pages
978-1-350-23618-9 (ISBN)
Description
What is a mask? A disguise or a means of protection? Laini Burton's comprehensive examination of masking in Western culture explores the mask as an enduring tool of personal, political and social transformation.
Beginning in the Middle Ages, Burton explores how key examples such as Venetian carnival and English masquerade sit at a historical crossroads between medieval masking traditions and early modern cultural shifts. These historical precedents reveal how politics, social order, performance, and identity continue to drive masking practices today. Turning to contemporary culture, Burton evaluates the mask's varied uses in club culture, haute couture, celebrity performances, masked protests, social media, and digital innovations including deepfakes. Through these contexts, Burton demonstrates how masks enable anonymity, reinvention, catharsis, celebration, and unity. Chapters consider how masks function as material objects and symbolic devices, challenging fundamental assumptions about authenticity, surface and depth, visibility and recognition.
Masked: Anonymity, Empowerment, and Identity in Fashion and Popular Culture urges us to reconsider how identities are constructed, maintained, and performed, identifying the mask as a paradoxical mechanism that not only obscures identity, but actively constructs, mediates, and transforms it.
Beginning in the Middle Ages, Burton explores how key examples such as Venetian carnival and English masquerade sit at a historical crossroads between medieval masking traditions and early modern cultural shifts. These historical precedents reveal how politics, social order, performance, and identity continue to drive masking practices today. Turning to contemporary culture, Burton evaluates the mask's varied uses in club culture, haute couture, celebrity performances, masked protests, social media, and digital innovations including deepfakes. Through these contexts, Burton demonstrates how masks enable anonymity, reinvention, catharsis, celebration, and unity. Chapters consider how masks function as material objects and symbolic devices, challenging fundamental assumptions about authenticity, surface and depth, visibility and recognition.
Masked: Anonymity, Empowerment, and Identity in Fashion and Popular Culture urges us to reconsider how identities are constructed, maintained, and performed, identifying the mask as a paradoxical mechanism that not only obscures identity, but actively constructs, mediates, and transforms it.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
51 colour illus
File size
219,43 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-350-23618-9 (9781350236189)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
approx. 07/2026
Bloomsbury Visual Arts
€116.50
Not yet published
Person
Laini Burton is Senior Lecturer in Art History and Theory at the Queensland College of Art and Design, Griffith University, Australia. Her research centres on contemporary visual art practices, bio-art and design, fashion theory, performance, and body/spatial relations.
Content
List of Figures
List of Plates
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. The Historical Mask
The Carnival Mask: A Precursor
The Mask of Angst
The Mask at Masquerade
2. Late Twentieth-Century Experiments
Leigh Bowery - Vanguard Masker
The Couture Mask: Martin Margiela and Walter Van Beirendonck
3. The Spectacle of Anonymity
Björk
Ye (Kanye) West
Sia
Lady Gaga
4. Future Proofing the Face
Facial Recognition Technologies: Your Face Does Not Belong to You
The Mask of Justice: #BLACKLIVESMATTER and Masked Protest
The Mask as a Health Measure and Climate Sensing Tool
5. The Digital Mask
Filters and Fakery
Deepfakes
Conclusion
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
List of Plates
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. The Historical Mask
The Carnival Mask: A Precursor
The Mask of Angst
The Mask at Masquerade
2. Late Twentieth-Century Experiments
Leigh Bowery - Vanguard Masker
The Couture Mask: Martin Margiela and Walter Van Beirendonck
3. The Spectacle of Anonymity
Björk
Ye (Kanye) West
Sia
Lady Gaga
4. Future Proofing the Face
Facial Recognition Technologies: Your Face Does Not Belong to You
The Mask of Justice: #BLACKLIVESMATTER and Masked Protest
The Mask as a Health Measure and Climate Sensing Tool
5. The Digital Mask
Filters and Fakery
Deepfakes
Conclusion
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
