Vestir o corpo com palavras: moda e literatura nos escritos de Gilda de Mello e Souza

This article critically analyzes an offshoot of Gilda de Mello e Souza's fashion theory, based on two unpublished texts, “Bricolage” and “Moda”, held at the IEB/USP. These documents reveal that the author's interest in reflecting philosophically on fashion goes beyond her thesis, “A moda no século XIX” (1950), and its subsequent publication as a book under the title, “O espírito das roupas: a moda no século dezenove” (1987). In an original dialogue with authors such as Ferdinand de Saussure, Roland Barthes, Cecil Beaton, and Charles Baudelaire, Gilda de Mello e Souza illuminates fashion as a form of thought and artistic expression. Among all the arts, fashion stands out for constructing subjectivities through clothing, conceived as literature written on the body – thus bringing art and life closer together.