Uniform: Order and Disorder Book

Do uniforms-- objects of fascination to many--unite or distinguish individuals? Do they create reassuring equality or disturbing balkanization? The uniform, starting point for modern dress, combines functional and formal qualities in a situation of mass production and serves to equalize individuals regardless of social status. The aim of this book is to reinterpret, from a contemporary point of view, the uniform as a prototype of male dress, focusing on how the formal and technical perfection of military garments has become a hidden form of reference for today's fashion. In "Uniform"--edited by Francesco Bonami, Maria Luisa Frisa and Stefano Tonchi, and designed by Studio Camuffo--art, fashion, film, and pop culture coexist in parallel spaces, in constant dialogue with each other. In a sort of cultural parasitism the editors of this book work with and on a wide range of heterogeneous materials--like fabrics, ad campaigns, icon garments, symbolic images, comics and films--in order to explore changes in the social function of the uniform as well as the cultural changes conditioning this function. Retracing the itinerary of the complex system that is the history and present of fashion, "Uniform" provides an unprecedented decoding of its language and aesthetics. Dress is certainly still a language, but the main function--especially among young people--of the cut, the colors and the accessories is to externally manifest one's psychological and idealogical personality. In the face of all this subjective liberty, the military standard of the uniform stands out even more sharply today, with codifed rules and its precisely defined signs.Essays by Lorenzo Greco, Nick Sullivan, James Sherwood, Stefano Pistolini, Giusi Ferre, Patrizia Calefato, Amy Spindler, Richard Buckley, Cristina Lucchini, Daniele Brolli. Paperback, 384 pages, 6.75 x 9.5 inches, 194 color and 254 b&w illustrations. Read More