PUBLIC LECTURE: Glamour and the Mystique of Fashion

In this lecture Stephen Gundle, Professor of Film and Television Studies at Warwick University, will discuss the origins of glamour and explain how these shed light on the paradoxical promise of exclusivity and accessibility that modern fashion offers consumers.

He will argue that to understand glamour’s workings, it is necessary not only to map its history but also to identify and track the use of eight different visual effects that are regularly employed by designers, advertisers and editors to create moods, harness longings and stimulate consumption.

He will show that by creating a magical aura around the trends, places and people of fashion, the fashion press performs a service to the industry and disguises the extent to which social class still conditions a hierarchy of style.

This lecture is free and open to the public, no RSVP required.