The serious analysis of clothing and fashion has a long history and has been the subject of intense cultural debate since the nineteenth century. Fashion Classics provides an interpretative overview of the groundbreaking and often idiosyncratic writings of eight theorists whose work has profoundly influenced the basis of our contemporary understanding of clothes and the fashion system.

Carter fully revives early "fashion theorists"—some canonical and others less well known—and examines them in light of more recent work. From Carlyle’s fantastical character Professor Teufelsdrockh, through the first Freudian analysis of clothes by J.C. Flugel, the pioneering work of Spencer, Veblen, Simmel, Kroeber, Laver and finally Barthes’ monumental work on the modern fashion system, this book explores and explains the foundations of fashion theory. Not only does it provide a historical outline of Western conceptions of clothes and fashion, but it also highlights how ideas intermix and build on one another.

Carter’s lively narrative clearly shows that views on fashion have always been impassioned—perhaps most notably Carlyle’s notorious attack on Dandyism and Veblen’s suggestion that clothes should be made out of old newspaper. This book also makes sense of complex theory and is essential reading for anyone seeking an overview of the history of fashion theory.