This book provides a concise and much-needed introduction to the sociology of fashion. Most studies do not make a clear distinction between clothing and fashion. Kawamura argues that clothing
is a tangible product whereas fashion is a symbolic cultural product. She debunks the myth of "the genius designer" and explains that fashion is not about clothes but is a belief. There is an
institutional structure, ignored by many fashion theorists, that has shaped and produced the fashion phenomenon. Kawamura further shows how the structural nature of the fashion system works
to legitimize designers' creativity and can make them successful. Newer fashion cities, such as Milan and New York, are the product of the fashion system that originated in Paris. Without
that systemic structure, fashion culture would not exist.
