FASHIONABLE
1. A form of alarm; armour for the anticipated emergency; secret knowledge of contemporary intimidations. 2. Excited impatience with the body; something made to disappear; anything that can be refashioned. 3. Of its time by promising a more alluring future; a kick start, a longing, a private nostalgia. 4. History without footnotes; the past in new clothes; undercover conservation. 5. Taking liberties with the future and parasitic on it. 6. Anything that tries to stop the present collapsing back into the past; the new without fear. 7. Something that makes space for itself. 8. An experiment with pleasure, without proof; living for the last moment.

Photograph by Norbert Schoerner from The Concise Dictionary of Dress publication, published by Violette Editions in association with Artangel. The Concise Dictionary of Dress was at Blythe House from April - June 2010. Installation by Judith Clark, text by Adam Phillips. See here for details.