Varieties of The Fantastic in Fiction

‘A Change in Fashion’ by Steven Millhauser takes the reader to the common issue of fashion. There are always times in which fashion seems to cross the line between fashion and nonsensical clash of fabrics, and Steven Millhauser seems to emphasize that concept. Fashion is a continuously changing concept that can change from generation to generation, and in this story we are taken to a world in which fashion is determined by how much can be hidden.

One of the themes which struck out to me was the idea that women felt comfortable in the idea that hiding oneself from the gaze of men was, and at the same time it is a form of revealing oneself without seeing skin. This was interesting since it seemed to imply that hiding in cloths could also be sexualized in the way that revealing cloths is sexualized. Additionally, his descriptions of the cloths often seemed to be satirical and overly exaggerated to make fun of the way in which this happens in real life. How women buy pieces of cloths in order to feel more beautiful or more in touch with time regardless of how inconvenient the garment actually is.

There was also a theme of change. The women who had been in the time of revelation, have become weary of the time and desire for something different. Hence, the sense of fashion changes to overly modest, in which everything is hidden from view. Which is also illustrated by the cloths and how they are a form of change from styles which were once popular. Some of the ways in which cloths come to life is to bring back styles which used to be in style, but adding new things to these garments. Which was done in the story, and shows the desire to bring back things from the past, while still maintaining a form of change from the original.