Redressing the devil’s wardrobe: Representing and re-reading the darker side of fashion in chick lit novels

This chapter examines the intersecting and contested sites of fashion writing and the sub-genre of ‘chick literature’ in the quest to readdress the debate about the value of both sites with specific reference to the book, The Devil Wears Prada (Weisberger, 2003) and other selected texts from this genre. The vilification of female novels as pulp fiction and trashy, ephemeral fictional texts, founded on stereotypical form and content has a distinguished history in feminist critiques in the universe of the romance novel genre. Based on a close reading of this text and in-depth discussions with a sample of readers across a range of cultures, the paper will challenge these critiques. In doing so, it will suggest that despite the supposed superficial nature of their content and premise and their formulaic, consumer-centric focus, these fashion framed novels can also deal with real and serious issues relating to friendship, work and lifestyle that resonate with the reader as active agent, often empowering them to make sense of their lived experiences. In a neo-feminist manner, reading these fictional texts can be a selective process defining a sense of the fashioned self in the narrative and through the characters and through vicarious application in their own lives. Readers of fashion focused chick lit despite its dark press, are finding pleasure in the text and celebrating the joys of reading, shopping, career choice, female friendships, identity control and escapist fantasies through real and imagined forms of dressing up.