What is ‘Fashion’ Really? The Promise of an Ecumenical Analytic for Fashion Studies and Beyond in a Globalized World

Abstract

This chapter addresses the increasingly complex question of the nature of fashion in a globalized world. While it is strikingly obvious that fashion is a global and globalized phenomenon, its speciic character, and indeed geographical locations and origins, remain contested. Drawing inspiration from the Greek historian Polybius, and his ideas of an ecumenical analytical approach, to studying world-wide phenomena we discuss the current state of fashion studies in what we consider an ecumenical moment, holding many opportunities for the ield. In order to lay out the roots of current debates, on such maters we review the history of fashion studies from the mid19th century through to today, drawing atention to both the ontological assumptions and the epistemological and methodological dilemmas that have shaped the ield, and that in some ways continue to do so today. We inish with some suggestions as to what the future may hold for the ield if the ecumenical promise of global fashion research is truly realized.

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“…I explore 'fashion' in this paper recognising the multiplicity and variation of the phenomenon. In so doing, I seek to contribute to fashion scholarship involved in explorations of fashion in times, locations and realms usually not associated with it, thus challenging normative and hegemonic understandings of the concept (Almila and Inglis 2017).…”