In Germany, 1969, Eugen Fink's Fashion: Seductive Play was published. This first English language edition, updated with an introduction by Stefano Marino and Giovanni Matteucci, makes available Fink’s philosophical investigation into fashion to an English-speaking audience. One of the greatest figures in the “phenomenological movement,” Fink here investigates fashion at various philosophical levels - aesthetic, ethical, social - and in relationship to other forms of human culture, especially contemporary culture.

Although there have been many transformations and changes in the world of fashion since the late 1960s, from prêt-à-porter to fast fashion, fashion’s connection to both high culture and popular culture, and the new relationship between fashion and the advent of social media, Fink’s insights allow wide-ranging and far-reaching inquiries into fashion's philosophical essence. Fink's extraordinary lucidity and his unique conceptual capacities have made his work crucial to the study of the philosophy of fashion today. His work, like that of Simmel’s, Veblen’s or Benjamin’s, is as essential and important now as when it was first published.

This book stands out for its attention to some aspects of fashion, particularly the close relationship between the body and its affective aspect ... a welcome addition to the “classics” of fashion history and theory. * Fashion Theory *
Through a detailed and in-depth contextualization of Fink’s thought, [Marino and Matteucci] succeed in highlighting its topicality by comprehensively outlining his discourse on fashion as a philosophical question, being highly controversial today. * Phenomenological Reviews *
An important historical document of fashion theory, revealing the deep ambiguities and dialectics that the allegedly superficial phenomenon of fashion shares with our fundamental human condition. * Richard Shusterman, author of Thinking through the Body: Essays in Somaesthetics *
Essential reading for anyone interested in recovering the philosophical depth of appearances. This compelling work, beautifully translated alongside a superb new Introduction, is here rediscovered in its first English edition. * Gwen Grewal, The New School, USA *

Eugen Fink (1905-1975) was Professor of Philosophy at the University of Freiburg, Germany.

Stefano Marino is Associate Professor of Aesthetics at the University of Bologna, Italy.

Giovanni Matteucci is Full Professor of Aesthetics at the University of Bologna, Italy.