Fashion Grammar

Making a Case for Re-reading Barthes

GIVEN ITS INFANCY IN the world of academia, fashion studies still shows signs of a discipline in the making, measuring and comparing itself against the long tradition of critical thinking in subjects such as art and architecture. With this in mind, we can in fashion theory often find a reliance on certain key figures. One such figure is Roland Barthes, whose name reverberates throughout the field of fashion studies. Considering that Barthes was not only one of the earliest academics to write about fashion, but also one of the first to develop a theory on fashion, the reliance on his work is hardly surprising. But bear