One of the wackier episodes of my erstwhile suit days was an impromptu tie-tying lesson in the men’s room given by not one, but two senior vice presidents at the company where I worked. I was a freshly minted junior executive, caught in the crossfire as two “big wigs” tussled over the relative merits of the sleek modernity of the four-in-hand knot vs. the staid traditionalism of the full Windsor.
I came to understand that rather than being merely an exercise in vanity, the exchange was deeply symbolic of the shift in power, then underway, to the new order within the corporate chain of command, and the decline of the old regime. The Rise of Fashion, edited by Penn State professor David Leonhard Purdy, takes its cue from the idea that fashion is key to understanding life in the modern age.
“Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street; fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.” – Coco Chanel