I discovered Figleaf: The Business of Being in Fashion when reading a quote by Eve Merriam in another book, so I went straight to the source – this 1960 book is a literate, high comedy diatribe against the ills of the fashion industry from the inside.  The copy at the Ryerson library looks like it has been well-loved for the past 50 years.

What is fascinating is how little has really changed in half a century – Merriam’s gripes have not been solved, in fact they’ve been exacerbated, inflamed and revved up.

It’s great to be a celebrity, but in order to become one, you’ve got to exploit every medium there is, latch onto it, use it for all it’s worth – and get yourself used up in the process.  There seems to be no way to avoid the speed-up process of penetrating the market through advertising and publicity; and paradoxically, those twin riders that take you there are due to dump you off so the next comer can mount.  There are no loyalties owed to past successes, no respects or tributes offered.  There are only the profits in our own country to be made, now, and we the people, the paying customers.  No quarter can be given, no mercy extended.

The deliberate turning upon the fashion past increases people’s feelings that we ourselves cannot judge, that we have little taste of our own.  So we become even more dependent on experts to form opinions for us.  And so the next fashion can be foisted all the more readily.

It seems like the only thing that hasn’t been inflated in fashion is the price – in 1960 a $50 dress is a cheap dress, and an expensive dress is over $300.  The sum of the equation is not encouraging – if it seemed like fashion was going downhill then, it seems to be plummeting towards utter devaluation now.  Not a cheerful book and no solutions are offered – but a refreshingly clever and clear eyed take on the industry from someone who obviously loves fashion, and despairs for it.  I would love to see a similar book (or blog!) written today.