Fashion on Television : Identity and Celebrity Culture

Fashion on Television provides a comprehensive critical examination of the intersection between fashion, television and celebrity culture. The book brings together theoretical approaches to the symbolic force of television and fashion-forward programming on a global scale.

Examining case studies such as Sex and the City, Gossip Girl, Ugly Betty and Mad Men, the book examines how TV has made style icons out of leading actresses and fashion-conscious consumers out of audiences. Using a varied methodology, including textual and contextual analysis, this study explores the cultural uses of onscreen fashion at the level of industry, text and intertext.

Fashion on Television is essential reading for those seeking to understand the cultural function of costume in a television context. Written accessibly with a multi-disciplinary approach, it will appeal to students and scholars from film and media, fashion and cultural studies, to sociology and women's studies.

“This book provides a comprehensive critical examination of the intersection between fashion, television and celebrity culture. Examining case studies such as Sex and the City, Gossip Girl, Ugly Betty and Mad Men, the book examines how TV has made style icons out of leading actresses and fashion-conscious consumers out of audiences.” —Costume Society of America

“Fashion on Television is a commendable addition to the literature that will illuminate the cultural functions of costume/fashion in a television context… It is essential reading for students and scholars of film and media, fashion, theatre, cultural, women’s and ethnic studies, sociology and psychology.” - Fashion, Society & Popular Culture