Books by Arlene Kramer Richards

Psychoanalysis in Fashion, the editors have assembled a series of riveting essays that span a broad range of connections between the unconscious mind and its expression in the dressing and adornment of the self. Fashion trends, hairdos, jewelry, and even cross-dressing are all fair game for the book's bold expositions and intriguing ideas. Conscious and unconscious fantasies play large roles in dressing up, which itself shapes, expresses, and even conceals portions of identity. Ultimately, we are shown how we banish the animal body while cloaking ourselves in cultural glory. Danielle Knafo, Author, Dancing with the Unconscious and The Age of PerversionPsychoanalysis and Fashion is a much needed contribution to the psychoanalytic literature on the body, particularly the body as looked at. Katz and Richards and their co-authors have us think about the body and its accoutrements from psychodynamic, interpersonal and sociological perspectives. Clothing, as well as jewelry, hair styles, tattoos reveal, as well as conceal, social status, gender identity and sexual availability. It is a page-turner: delightful, delicious, at times personal while being scholarly. It covers the myriad complex aspects that make up a "fashion identity". Janice Liebermanm Author, Body Talk: Looking and Being Looked at in Psychotherapy