Vestoj, Issue 9 – On Capital

Vestoj (meaning ‘clothing’ in Esperanto) is an annual journal about dress, bridging the gap between academia, literature and industry within fashion. Vestoj provides a platform for academics to co-exist with practitioners, for cross-pollination, learning and mutual understanding, and also a way for readers interested in fashion and dress to come at the topic from a slightly off-kilter angle that aims to be both inclusive and challenging to the status quo.

In this issue:
Vestoj ‘On Capital’ looks at all forms of value or assets: financial, human, cultural, social – you name it. We explore how talent is developed and harnessed in fashion, and how this now intersects with branding (and self-branding) which has become so important in all aspects of culture. The issue also examines how value flows between symbolic assets like taste or beauty or cool and economic profit. And how the traditional schism between cultural and financial capital (cool versus money) has been replaced by a much more self-consciously positive – or nuanced and complex – relationship between art and fashion.