The Real World Guide to Fashion Selling and Management Book

In their book, Jones and Stallybrass argue that clothing holds symbolic importance that elevates its status from being merely ornamental to having the power to inscribe particular traits upon its wearer: "Clothes, unlike the working of the spirit, leave a 'print or character' upon observer and wearer alike" (4). In order to support this claim, the authors examine Hamlet, Ovid's Metamorphosis, Pamela, etc. The authors claim that they intend to "explore the contradictory implications of 'fashion' as 'deep making' and as circulating goods" (11). They find that clothing has the potential to deceive - for it can fluidly move from body to body, making the power that it possesses (especially in its duties as "bearers of identity, ritual, and social memory") problematic (5).