ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on manufacturing and materiality, and engage with the social history of fashion and dress production by approaching the histories of multiple actors and practices. It looks at the workshop and at the conditions of the production of dress. The book focuses on the political history of fashion and dress. It looks at the relationship between fashion and diplomacy, combining diplomatic history, fashion studies, and communication studies to start a discussion on the diplomatic roles and multifaceted influences of fashion. The book explains the subject of innovation by looking at the changing nature of fashion forecasting through the advent of artificial intelligence, examining its influence on the gender balance of the fashion trend forecasting industry in Europe. It examines the impact of the internet on the potential dematerialization of the fashion system, on consumer-centered practices, on supply chains, and on sustainability.
