February 2000

Home > Fashion and the 'Cult of Celebrity'
Fashion and the 'Cult of Celebrity'
Fame is not a new phenomenon. Characters of renown were admired in Ancient Greek and early Christian cultures (1). Military, political and romantic heroes were worshipped similarly in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Tales of their achievements formed the basis of the pedestal on which they were raised. However, the 'Graphic Revolution' (2) of the twentieth century heralded profound changes in the nature of stardom. Developments in photographic and cinematic technologies allowed images to be mechanically reproduced for mass dispersal in the media. The celebrity now became 'someone who is well-known for his well-knownness' (3), a name renowned more for charismatic beauty than for heroic achievement. In this 'Cult of Celebrity', superficial images began to replace ideals of virtue in a growing passion for celebrity itself.
It is unsurprising therefore to find the 'Cult of Celebrity' implicated in aspects of fashion in contemporary culture. Since the glamour of Hollywood celebrities in the 1920s and 30s, images of the female body in the media have become increasingly distanced from the bodies of real women. ...