Viscose Journal 07: Scent

To be sure, fashion smells. Olfactory sensations have leaked from industries of style since its inception: scent, the stuff of ancient history and myth, has been traded as precious commodities alongside textiles and garments since the world's earliest trade routes (if for a range of social, religious, and political purposes). But the connection between scent and clothing is more profound than their commodity status. Viscose 07 examines scent through a variety of lenses, observing its historical and contemporary role in fashion culture. The issue seeks out histories of projects--mainly developed with or by artists and designers--who have embraced and involved smell as a medium of possibility and knowledge production, gesturing to histories of manufacturing, trade, branding, and commerce, but also sexuality, desire, identity, and memory. With respect to the abstract knowledge of scent, we are in pursuit of accounts ranging from literature to philosophy that attempt to synthesize, much like perfume itself, the sensorial, capitalist, artistic, and scientific forces that make up scent in our modern world.