May 26-27, 2007

An International Transdisciplinary Conference, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology, Sydney

Roland Barthes argued that fashion was not an 'industry' but rather a set of fictions. By this he didn't wish to ignore the economic function of fashion, but rather to underline fashion's mythic dimension, and to suggest that fashion is a literature in itself. Fashion and fiction have long existed in close proximity; writers have been driven by their experience of fashion; fashion has been developed through and by literary tropes. What makes dress and fashion such a fascinating subject for writers? And how are fashion's mythologies constructed and disseminated through fictional texts?

This transdisciplinary conference, a creative collaboration between the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, will investigate the role fashion has played in fictional narratives from the 19th century to the present. In particular, it will examine specific fashion discourses or conversations within fiction, assessing the role, function, and purposes of clothes, fashion movements, style and image to create narratives within narratives.

Artwork: Eric Hagen