If an examination of fashion at this particular minute can provide insight into our worldview, then it stands to reason that an analysis of fashion -- its history, evolution, and the various blue jeans and baubles that comprise it -- can teach us about ourselves and can serve as an educational parallel to our own societal development. This is the studious endeavor that has been undertaken by Cristina Giorcelli, professor of American literature at the University of Rome Three, and Paula Rabinowitz, professor of English at the University of Minnesota. The two scholars have gathered their colleagues most knowledgeable on the affairs of style and asked each to write an essay on a sub-element of fashion, the lot of which will be collected into four volumes.