Within the Triangle of Body, Image, and Space: Fashion’s Role in Urban Identity

Abstract

Fashion is a practice that makes visible the relationship between the individual and the social structure through the body, image, and identity within urban space. This study aims to redefine fashion and to explore its potential as an input for urban design. The research focuses on the boulevards and passages of 19th-century Paris to reveal the role of fashion in shaping urban identity and originality. Although fashion has been discussed in the literature through urban movements and architectural form, its potential to transform and redefine space at the urban design scale has been largely overlooked. This study addresses this conceptual gap. The research method is based on a literature review of studies published in the last five years, filtered using Scopus AI and keyword-based concept mapping. The findings show that fashion is a tool for reading spatial identity and urban experience and should be reconsidered from an urban design perspective.