The Wall Street Journal speaks of the “unique condition” of mirror-touch synesthesia (“Lessons from Strange Brains,” Helen Thomson, Saturday June 30th). An example: “A scratch of the head, a frown, a punch on the arm — if Joel sees it, he feels it. In other words, he is hyper-empathetic.” Scheler thinks this condition is…
H&M’s latest is an interactive mirror that takes pictures of you and also offers fashion suggestions. The business idea is to integrate being in a shop and digital sales. Just watch the video embedded in the article for the idea: https://www.retaildive.com/news/hm-tests-voice-activated-mirrors-at-nyc-flagship/525296/. It is an interesting example of conservatism in fashion. Psychoanalytically, the mirror reaffirms the…
We hear all the time that privilege is bad. It is not. For why, see V&R Chapter 7 on Kolnai. Establishment is alive and well in fashion and if you like your Gucci and YSL, or if your tastes run to vintage Levis or second hand Savile Row, you do not want it otherwise. …
Filippo Sorcinelli is a charismatic tailor to the pope. A Renaissance man, he is not only gifted in the art of tailoring but music, design, and perfume, too (https://www.departures.com/fashion/filippo-sorcinelli-tailor-to-the-pope). At one point in this interview, he makes an astute point. Benedict’s high regard for papal fashion is well-known and contrasts with Francis’s modesty. Sorcinelli…
*I am delighted that Chris Wojtulewicz is making a new post. Chris is an English Catholic theologian interested in post-modernism. He is the author of monographs on medieval mysticism, especially Meister Eckhart, and is currently at work on a book about French theorist Jacques Lacan and the bodily resurrection. His previous post is here: http://www.ethicsoffashion.com/fabric-of-the-saints/ For…
Italian sculptor Jago has made a shirtless bust of Pope Benedict. The bust began with the pope clothed but upon his retirement from the active papacy, Jago chipped away the clothing. I am not aware of controversy, though maybe such exists. For me, it evokes the humility we saw at the end of Saint…
Emirates Airlines offers an example backing up the brilliant study of French theorist, Roger Caillois, “Mimicry and Legendary Psychasthenia.” His short but tremendously interesting essay is here: http://www.generation-online.org/p/fpcaillois.htm. Caillois (1913-1978) offers a novel theory for the mimicry common throughout nature. Instead of thinking of it in Darwinian terms, e.g. prey disguising itself like its predator…
Fashion frequently compliments itself for being at the forefront of humanism: about the future, globalist, breaking down barriers, giving voice to all, etc.. Lacan argues the opposite: fashion is about repetition, an aggressive return to earliest human experience (Ecrits, p. 85). The self is a field of conflict, an internal social contest between a fragmented…
I mentioned awhiles back that I have a new book that expands on some of the claims made in V&R. Well, it is still doing the rounds trying to find a publisher: the process is somewhat drawn out as the manuscript has to be peer-reviewed. While I wait for news, I thought I’d post here…
*I am finishing up a new book on play and ethical theory. I’ll say more about it once I have a publisher and a date of publication is set. For now, here is a chapter from the book on one of philosophy’s most genial characters, Maurice Merleau-Ponty. It is “heavy” as it’s part of the…