JUDY BLAME'S OBITUARY: WRITINGS ON FASHION AND DEATH by Derek McCormack

Regular price £15.00
Regular Price Sale Price £15.00
£15.00
Title Judy Blame's Obituary: Writings on Fashion and Death
Author(s)/Editor(s) Derek McCormack
Publisher Pilot Press
Pages 143
Dimensions 150 x 200 mm
Format Softcover
Year 2021

Derek McCormack is the author of fashion-inflected novels that cast luminaries such as Elsa Schiaparelli and Balenciaga as characters. This collection brings together for the first time McCormack's fashion journalism. He writes about and interviews fashion figures that fascinate him, tracing the ways they inspire and inhabit his novels. The result is a sort of memoir in essays: as he writes, "My tribute to [Judy] Blame is about him and about me—there are lots of my own tales woven in with the topics I touch on. The writing here is a sort of autobiography, a life seen through a scrim, or a life as a scrim—my moire mémoire."

Judy Blame's Obituary contains twenty years' worth of reminiscences, reviews of fashion shows and books, interviews with writers about fashion, and interviews with fashion designers about writing. He talks to Nicolas Ghesquière about perfume, and to Edmund White about which perfume he wore as a young fag in New York City. He inspects the clothes that Kathy Acker left behind when she died, and he summons the spirit of Margiela in a literary seance. He traces the history of sequins, then recounts the cursed story of Vera West, the costume designer who dressed the Bride of Frankenstein. These pieces were all previously published, some in Artforum, some in The Believer, and some in underground publications like Werewolf Express—what binds them together is a sense that though fashion victimizes us, this victimization is sometimes a sort of salvation.

About the author

Derek McCormack is a Canadian writer. His most recent novels are The Well-Dressed Wound and Castle Faggot, both published by Semiotext(e). Of Castle Faggot, Dennis Cooper said: "It is really just one of the best books ever, and maybe the greatest novel ever written."

Praise for Judy Blame's Obituary:

‘Derek McCormack, Canada's most famous author as yet unsullied by Nobel Prize or television adaptation, hides in plain sight as a fashion journalist. Parallel to his writing incantatory, scatological fiction, he has reviewed collections and interviewed the great and good of “la mode”. His divagations are often darkly hilarious and always exquisitely tailored. The sublime and the ridiculous coexist in his prose, as they do in life. Fashion victims, ignore his insights at your peril.' — William E. Jones

'Derek McCormack is one of my first and most enduring literary heroes. He only writes about what he loves, and has the lover’s rare gift of giving every stray object a proper home. You couldn’t mistake his aesthetic for anyone else’s—even if you were standing as far away as the moon.' — Sheila Heti

'I am charmed, amused and somewhat obsessed by ‘Judy Blame's Obituary’. Derek McCormack observes fashion and art and all its quirks with a sense of factual fabularity and camp mundanity. Stories captured like falling stars and written down like fan facts.’ — Princess Julia

  • Title

    Judy Blame's Obituary: Writings on Fashion and Death

  • Author / Editor

    Derek McCormak

  • Publisher

    Pilot Press

  • Pages

    143

  • Dimensions

    150 x 200mm

  • Format

    Softcover

  • Year

    2021

Shipping Terms

Delivery
We aim to process orders within 1–2 working days. Orders placed on a Saturday and Sunday will be processed from the next working day. If you need something in a hurry please call or email us before placing an order to ensure the item is in stock.

UK
All mainland UK orders are sent using Royal Mail, which usually arrives within 1–2 working days after despatch. We use Parcelforce and DHL on heavier or bulkier orders, which can take 2 working days to arrive. Royal Mail Signed For, Parcelforce and DHL all require a signature as proof of delivery. Please note that postage costs for addresses that are not mainland UK may vary.

European Union and Single Market
Please note that due to the introduction of the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) in December 2024, we are no longer able to ship to the EU and Single Market (including Northern Ireland). This does not affect items such as workshop bookings, Studio Passes, or Gift Vouchers.

International
Please note that LCBA cannot be held responsible for any import duties, taxes or delays in processing once your order arrives in-country. It is important that international orders include a contact telephone number and email address at checkout in the instance that the carrier needs to contact you for taxes and/or duties to be paid.

Out of Stock
We make every effort to ensure all products are in stock, but in the event of us not having your chosen product we will contact you and offer either a refund or a split- or later delivery if possible.

Returns

We hope you are happy with your purchases from London Centre for Book Arts, but if not, we can offer a refund on any item as long as it is returned in a saleable condition within 30 days of receiving your item. Please note that we are unable to reimburse postage costs for returns. For further information, or to make a return, write to us atorders@londonbookarts.org.

Related