Table of Contents

Introduction, by Stefano Marino and Giovanni Matteucci
…So That the Meaning is Evident (Introduction), by Walter Spengler

1. The Magical Powers of Fashion
2. The Social Phenomenon of Fashion
3. Fashion – The Wish to Be Always Different
4. Appeal and Performance of Fashion
5. Fashion Has Many Faces
6. Leadership or Seduction in Fashion
7. Is Fashion Existentially Justified?

Glossary
Index of names

Promotional Information

The first English translation of German philosopher Eugen Fink’s seminal book on philosophical approaches to fashion.

About the Author

Eugen Fink (1905-1975) was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Freiburg, Germany.

Stefano Marino is Associate Professor of Aesthetics at the University of Bologna, Italy.

Giovanni Matteucci is Full Professor of Aesthetics at the University of Bologna, Italy.

Reviews

Through a detailed and in-depth contextualization of Fink’s thought, [Marino and Matteucci] succeed in highlighting its topicality by comprehensively outlining his discourse on fashion as a philosophical question, being highly controversial today.
*Phenomenological Reviews*

An important historical document of fashion theory, revealing the deep ambiguities and dialectics that the allegedly superficial phenomenon of fashion shares with our fundamental human condition.
*Richard Shusterman, author of Thinking through the Body: Essays in Somaesthetics*

Essential reading for anyone interested in recovering the philosophical depth of appearances. This compelling work, beautifully translated alongside a superb new Introduction, is here rediscovered in its first English edition.
*Gwen Grewal, The New School, USA*

This book stands out for its attention to some aspects of fashion, particularly the close relationship between the body and its affective aspect ... a welcome addition to the “classics” of fashion history and theory.
*Fashion Theory*