French Literature Reviews - 2026
V. Bergen, Le Corps glorieux de la top-model
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas
Le Corps glorieux de la top-modèle
Véronique Bergen
PUBLICATION DATE: 02/05/13 PUBLISHER: Nouvelles Editions Lignes ISBN: 978-2-35526-122-0 EAN: 9782355261220 FORMAT: Paperback NO. OF PAGES: 137 p.
Fashion has turned the inauthentic into a space for its own experimentation. When conveying the codes of frivolity, designers and top models do so knowingly, positioning themselves as full-fledged subjects of enunciation. Examining the "fashion phenomenon" reveals its close relationship with the fundamental motifs of Western representation: a "heterodox" Platonism and a "paradoxical inversion of incarnation," understood in its religious sense.
There is no object that does not turn back upon its questioner. Through this volte-face, it reveals that beneath its labeling as an object category, it possesses a subjective power. Such is the case with fashion. When philosophy tackles contemporary phenomena such as fashion, rock, video games, or pornography, it runs the risk of becoming a sort of applied thought imposed on heterogeneous materials, turning its subject of investigation into an object subjugated to its own schemata. Refusing to limit fashion merely to what it offers philosophy to reflect upon and conceptualize means questioning it through its own implementation and operation: activating symbolic invariants that question us in return, fashion and more specifically top models redraw the field of social practices and thought.
Gathering the statements produced by fashion and intersecting them with a philosophical perspective means keeping in mind that fashion stands fully as a subject of enunciation. This perspective implies that the prevalence and diffusion of fashion throughout the social sphere, its recent rise in power, matters less than what it brings into play at the level of thought. Others have shown how it has become a cornerstone of contemporary societies, and how its organizing principles (change, the ephemeral, seduction, the simulacrum) govern modern collective life.
It is a recognized fact that fashion is no longer confined to the sphere of adornment and styling, but dictates a way of being in the world. Its pivotal position as a matrix of the social has been acknowledged and extensively studied. As a result, on the reverse side, or in the shadow cast by this approach, the stakes of thought that it performs and displays have been either denied and foreclosed, or disdained and passed over in silence. Uncovering how fashion replays, displaces, and subverts foundational schemata means acknowledging the modalities through which thought inhabits this "fashion" space—one it has long attacked under the accusation of superficiality. Ever since Paul Valéry and his Deleuzian reactivation, we have known that "what is deepest is the skin," or, as Hofmannsthal wrote, that "depth must be concealed. Where? On the surface." In a crossfire, fashion radiates its own conceptual topoï while philosophy finds illumination through this detour. Paradoxically, a device that lives only by constantly declassing itself—fashion being precisely that which perpetually goes out of style—benefits from being approached through the lens of its transhistorical operators and invariants.
Holding a doctorate in philosophy, Véronique Bergen is the author of essays on contemporary philosophy, novels, and poetry collections; she is a member of the editorial committee of the journal Lignes. Her notable publications include L'Ontologie de Gilles Deleuze; Résistances philosophiques; Aujourd'hui la révolution; and Fragments d'Ulrike M.
Véronique Bergen examines the fashion phenomenon and its relationship with Western representation, focusing on a heterodox Platonism and a paradoxical inversion of incarnation. The text addresses how fashion functions as a subject of enunciation, activating symbolic invariants that question social practices and thought. Rather than treating fashion merely as applied philosophy or a cornerstone of contemporary societies governed by change and the ephemeral, the study investigates the stakes of thought performed and displayed within this space. It explores how fashion replays, displaces, and subverts foundational schemata, challenging long-standing accusations of superficiality by engaging with its conceptual topoï.
The volume situates itself within broader reflections on contemporary phenomena, touching upon the intersection of philosophy and cultural objects that redraw the field of thought. Readers interested in contemporary philosophy, cultural studies, and the theoretical dimensions of fashion may find the work relevant. The publication contributes to ongoing discussions regarding how seemingly ephemeral domains embody deep philosophical implications, bridging the gap between traditional conceptual frameworks and the lived realities of modern cultural practices.