Everything Starts with an E: Fashions in Theory, Fashion Theory and the Cultural Studies Debate

Angela McRobbie's In the Culture Society: Art, Fashion and Popular Music (London: Routledge, 1999) & British Fashion Design: Rag Trade or Image Industry? (London: Routledge, 1998) defend cultural studies while recognizing certain elements of the anti-populist critique. Both books argue for a "new kind of materialism," & a "return to the three E's; the empirical, the ethnographic, [&] the experiential." The books fall short in a number of areas including the following: In the Culture Society fails to fully explore contemporary music & women's representation within the music industry, while British Fashion Design offers a misleading portrayal of the lives of young designers. Finally, it is evident that neither book makes a significant contribution to the analysis of fashion or the understanding of the new cultural industries. K. A. Larsen