STAGG, Natasha
Sleeveless. Fashion, Image, Media, New York 2011-2019

“If we have no gender, we have no women. Lately, we like the idea of obsession. Straight men are obsessed with sex, gay men are obsessed with form, women are obsessed with themselves, the internet is an obsessive habit. To catch a predator is to catch us all: we become what we least like about obsessives and narcissists when we spend ‘too much time on screens,’ although, like calling out a drunk for being ‘too honest’, we can decide that this habit has made us our true selves.”

Composed of essays and stories commissioned by fashion, art, and culture magazines, Sleeveless is a scathing and sensitive report from New York in the 2010s. During those years, Stagg worked as an editor for V magazine and as a consultant, creating copy for fashion brands. Through these jobs, she met and interviewed countless industry luminaries, celebrities, and artists, and learned about the quickly evolving strategies of branding. In Sleeveless, she exposes the mechanics of personal identity and its monetization that propelled the narrator of Surveys from a mall job in Tucson to international travel and internet fame. [publisher’s note]

Published by Semiotext(e), 2019
Fashion / Material Culture / Media Studies