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.
