For more than thirty years Ted Polhemus has explored and celebrated the extraordinary ways that popular culture opens a window onto a broader understanding of the world we live in. Never judgemental, never the ‘style guru’ some have erroneously labelled him, he scrupulously avoids distinguishing between the good, the bad and the ugly - while always thrilled by the creativity of all those ‘real people’ who, decade after decade, have given constant impetus to music, style, design, dance and so many of the things which made and make our age that unique period in human history when Culture went pop! and became truly democratic.
Ted Polhemus has worked as special events coordinator of the ICA (London), the external curator of the ‘Streetstyle’ exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum (London), advisor to the ‘Style Surfing’ exhibition at the Karyn Lovegrove Gallery (Melbourne) and a contributor to the ‘Taste’ exhibition at the Bonnefanten Museum (Maastricht). He has lectured and been a guest on TV and radio in the UK, USA, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, France, Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Turkey, Austria, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, South Korea and Japan. His streetstyle photography has been exhibited at The Photographers Gallery (London). As well as a writer and photographer he is also a consultant in advertising, marketing and fashion.
Some books written or edited by Ted Polhemus:
The Body as a Medium of Expression (co-editor + author of ‘Social Bodies’ essay), Penguin, London, 1975.
Social Aspects of the Human Body: A Reader of Key Texts (editor), Penguin, London, 1978.
Fashion & Anti-fashion: an anthropology of clothing & adornment (co-author), Thames & Hudson, London, 1978.
>>> new edition with 21st century introduction and postscript available now in print and Kindle formats
Fashion & Anti-fashion: Exploring adornment and dress from an anthropological perspective by Ted Polhemus, 2011
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Popstyles (co-author), Vermilion, London, 1984.
Bodystyles, (for C4 TV series), Leonard Books, London, 1988.
>>>new 21st century edition available now available in print and Kindle formats
Body Styles by Ted Polhemus, 2018
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Streetstyle, Thames & Hudson, London, 1994
New, updated and expanded 21st century edition of Streetstyle published 2010 by PYMCA
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Style Surfing: what to wear in the 3rd millennium, Thames & Hudson, London, 1996.
The Customized Body (author of text), Serpent's Tail, London, 1996.
Body Art: The Total Guide To Body Decoration [children's book, author of text], Element Books, Dorset, UK, 1998.
Diesel: World Wide Wear, Thames & Hudson, London, 1998.
Hot Bodies Cool Styles: New Techniques in Self-Adornment, Thames & Hudson, London, 2004.
La Rivolta Dello Stile (co-author), Alet, Padova, 2009.
Unordinary People (author of main text), PYMCA, London, 2009.
BOOM!-a baby boomer memoir by Ted Polhemus, 2nd edition, 2022, print and Kindle versions
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Orbiting Neptune – a baby boomer photo memoir by Ted Polhemus
>>> blurb.com
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If you've ever been curious about how Chloë Sevigny comes up with some of her more inspired looks check out Streetstyle by Ted Polhemus - ‘I often consult it for tips before I go out. It's my sartorial bible’. - in The New York Times Style Magazine
Some contributions by Ted Polhemus to other works:
‘The Clothing of Culture’ in Conceptual Clothing (Fran Cottell & Marian Schoettle eds.), Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK, 1986.
‘Dance, Gender and Culture’ in Dance, Gender and Culture (Helen Thomas ed.)The Macmillan Press, London, 1993.
‘Sampling & Mixing’ in Moda: Regole E Rappresentazion (Giulia Ceriani & Roberto grandi eds.) FrancoAngeli, Milan, 1995.
‘In the Supermarket of Style‘ in The Clubcultures Reader: Readings in Popular Cultural Studies, Blackwell Publishers, Oxford, 1997.
‘Beyond Fashion’ in The Style Engine (Giannino Malossi ed.), Pitti Immagine/The Monacelli Press, NY, 1998.
‘The Art of the Motorcycle: Outlaws, Animals & Sex Machines’ in The Art of the Motorcycle, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, 1998.
‘The Customized World’ in The Art of the Harley, Barbican Art Gallery/Booth-Clibborn Editions, London, 1998.
‘Holiday Snaps from the Neverneverlands’ in RawSkin: Contemporary Dutch Fashion Photography (Pauline Terreehorst ed.), Nederlands Photo Instituut, Rotterdam, 1998.
‘An Imagined Italy’ in Volaré: The Icon of Italy in Global Pop Culture (Giannino Malossi ed.), Pitti Immagine/The Monacelli Press, NY,1999.
‘Smaak: Stijlsurfen’ in Smaak: Mensen, Media, Trends, Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht, NL, 1999.
‘Il pianeta giovane’ in La Moda Nel Consumo Giovanile: strategie & immaginai de fine millenio (Alessandro Giancola ed.) FrancoAngeli, Milan, 1999.
‘The Invisible Man’ in Material Man (Giannino Malossi ed.), Pitti Immagine/Harry N. Abrams, NY, 2000.
‘Ted Polhemus nel buco nero della moda’ in Communifashion: Sulla Moda, della comunicazione (Alberto Abruzzese & Nello Barile eds.) Luca Sossels Editore, Roma, 2001.
‘Introduction’ to Gavin Watson’s Skins (photographs), Independent Music Press, London, 2001.
‘La Moda come furto’ in Discipline Della Moda: L’etica dell’ apparenza (Bernardo Valli, Benedetta Barzini and Patrizia Calefato eds.) Licuari Editore, Napoli, Italy, 2003.
‘Neo-Primitieve Lichamen’ in Neo, Centraal Museum, Utrecht, NL, 2003.
‘Style Surfing’ in Enciclopedia della Moda Treccani, Treccani, Rome, 2004.
‘Streetstyles’ in The Encyclopedia of Clothing & Fashion (Valerie Steele ed.), Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 2005.
‘The Post-modern Designer’ in Hussein Chalayan, NAI Publishers/Groninger Museum, Rotterdam/Groninger, NL 2005.
‘The Ornamented Ape’ in Access To Accessory (Victor Durschei & Leyla Belkaid Neri eds.), Geneva University of Design, Geneva, 2005.
‘What to Wear in the Global Village?’ in Global Fashion Local Tradition: On the Globalisation of Fashion (Jan Brand & José Tunissen eds.) Uitgererij Terra Lannoo BV, Belgium, 2005.
‘The Life and Times of the Electric Guitar’ in Born to Rock, Big Time TV/The National Museum of Ireland, London/Dublin, 2006.
‘From Fashion to Style: the presentation of self in the 21st century’ for Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome, 2008.
Ted Polhemus has an honorary doctorate of arts from Southampton Solent University
Having grown up near the sea in Neptune, New Jersey, Ted Polhemus moved from London to Hastings on the South-east coast of England in 2001.
