Read and download the digital version of BIAS Journal of Dress Practice Issue 3: Fashion + Surveillance
In January 2013, designer Adam Harvey presented his Stealth Wear collection. The collection presented ‘anti-drone’ garments featuring anti-thermal technology and camouflage, equipping the wearer to dodge even the most sophisticated forms of surveillance. While some might question the practicality or wider applicability of Harvey’s collection, it rightfully acknowledges the rise and invasion of surveillance in our everyday lives, and represents an attempt to maintain the wearer’s privacy. In a digital age characterized in part by pervasive data mining, street style ‘drones’ flying over New York Fashion Week and selfies plastered on social media, surveillance and self-surveillance have become a part of our daily lives on an unprecedented level. Where and how does fashion factor into being watched?
In our third issue, we asked contributors to consider the ways in which fashion and surveillance intersect. Writers, designers and artists, from here in New York to London and Australia staged a rich dialogue concerning dress practice, fashion, and multi-faceted modes of looking. Through a consideration of police practices, celebrity tailing, costumed performance and aging bodies their works probe the pressures that society faces in this surveillance age.
The journal you have before you is the product of hours of hard work and creative energy assembled by a team of dedicated MA Fashion Studies students at Parsons. We hope this issue will continue to spark meaningful conversations about fashion, visual culture and dress practice by presenting some of the pertinent issues surrounding surveillance in our contemporary society. Fashion, inherently visual, evidently plays a role in this leering game. It is up to the wearer whether to attempt to fly below the radar or catch the camera’s omniscient lens.
Read more about BIAS Journal of Dress Practice Issue 4: Fashion + Violence and download the digital version here
Read and download the digital version of BIAS: Journal of Dress Practice Issue 2: Fashion + Politics
Read and download the digital version of BIAS Journal of Dress Practice Issue 4: Fashion + Healing
Dress Practice Collective
The Dress Practice Collective is a New School student-run organization aimed at joining elements of visual culture, fashion theory, design studies and personal practice through a variety of media. We hope to spark conversations and initiate collaborations between students, faculty and members of the greater community. The organization was founded in Spring 2013 for the purpose of presenting exhibitions, organizing workshops, and publishing original content.
