Clothing Degree Zero: A Late Reading of Barthes’ Fashion ‘System

• Published in: Theory, culture & society Vol. 37; no. 4; pp. 97 - 118
• Main Author: Jie, Feng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01.07.2020; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Barthes, Roland (1915-1980); Clothing industry; Fashion; Reading; Textile industry; China; Neutral; blandness; Roland Barthes; François Jullien; Chinese philosophy; fashion

Drawing upon Roland Barthes’ posthumously published notebooks from his 1974 trip to China, in which he remarks upon the ‘complete absence of fashion. Clothing degree zero’, this article offers a ‘late’ reading of Barthes’ interest in fashion, suggested here as a form of writing. In reference to the...