Fashion studies are born as an interdisciplinary sector. Since the foundation in the 1980s of the twentieth century there was clearly reference to the disciplines of fashion, in the plural, and not to a single discipline. This issue of ZMJ is particularly interesting from this point of view. The theme of deconstruction crosses various fields, from philosophy to architecture, to fashion, giving rise to a fruitful debate both on design and its methods, as well as on the theoretical implications that situate fashion well beyond clothing and garments, to involve many other fields of human action. The issue deals with both the historicization of deconstructionism and its most current meanings “especially inquiring into some of its implications, connections and ramifications in such fields as philosophy, fashion, art, design, gender studies and music” as the editors Stefano Marino and Ines Tolic write in the introduction to the volume. With this inclusive and expansive principle, ever more current and necessary, the first part of the volume presents punctual and wide in scope articles for a dialogue in progress in many fields of knowledge. The “backstage”, as always, heeds the call with reviews of exhibitions, films and books under the same explorative attitude towards conventions and stereotypes.
This issue is dedicated to the memory of Paolo Fabbri (1939–2020), a semiologist and a cosmopolitan Rimini born scholar who has made interdisciplinarity an art, while bringing the different areas of knowledge back to his favorite discipline. He will always be an example for us.