Dress, Dreams, and Desire - A History of Fashion and Psychoanalysis

What can psychoanalysis tell us about the power and allure of fashion? Valerie Steele, author of Dress, Dreams and Desire , was described by critic Suzy Menkes as "the Freud of fashion." In this pathbreaking book, the first cultural history of fashion and psychoanalysis, Steele does not merely hold a mirror up to fashion''s surface, she looks into its soul. A renowned fashion historian, Steele draws on key psychoanalytic concepts about the body, sexuality, and the unconscious - from the dream theories of Freud and Jung to Lacan''s mirror stage and Anzieu''s skin ego - to interpret the work of designers such as Elsa Schiaparelli, Gianni Versace, and Alexander McQueen. She explores how fashion is the lens through which we see ourselves - and how others see us. Far from being superficial, fashion can be regarded as a "deep surface" that communicates our unconscious desires and anxieties, with none of us fully aware of what we are "saying" with the clothes we wear.

Product details

• Authors: Valerie Steele
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 05.02.2026
• EAN: 9781350428188
• ISBN: 978-1-350-42818-8
• No. of pages: 240
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Interior design, design; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Gender Studies, DESIGN / Fashion & Accessories, Fashion design & theory, history of design, Psychoanalytical and Freudian psychology, History of fashion, Sex and sexuality, social aspects, Psychology of gender, Psychoanalytical theory (Freudian psychology), PSYCHOLOGY / Psychotherapy / Psychoanalysis