What to read after When World's Collide?

In his new book When World’s Collide: Leveraging The Power of Literature, Art, and Fashion; Author/Designer Prometheus Worley explores the very fascinating historical allure, reverence, and power in which these reoccurring key foundational elements thrive and transform all levels of society.

Art and artistic expression have been a part of mankind’s communication medium since the dawn of time. From the Paleolithic paintings (estimated to be up 20,000 years old) discovered in the caves of Lascaux in France to the charcoal drawings of human hands and fauna (approximately 36,000 years old) found within the cave of Altamira in Spain, the visual medium has always been a powerful expressive tool.

Functioning both as a historical record indicator and cultural reference point, the power of Literature as well as Art transcends the boundaries of space and time. One need not look far to experience just how long-ranging the powerful effects of this visual imagery can be. Just look at ancient Egypt. Ramesses II (1303 -1213 BC) narcissistic homage to himself, through the use of massive statues of his image all throughout the Abu Simbel temples, testifies to this. Continent hop to Japan during the Heian Period (794-1185) and explore Lady Murasaki’s take on the Imperial court through her ground-breaking novel “The Tale of Genji” and you will easily see through the power of riveting literature, a birds-eye snapshot of daily life in royal Japanese high society. From there, fast-forward to the royal courts of the legendary Sun King Louis XIV in 17th century France and you’ll marvel with fascination at his masterful use of fashion to control the Nobility and express his power.

Repeatedly throughout numerous eras and epochs in human history, the fusion of these foundational elements of human expression have been appropriated, co-opted, transformed, manipulated, and leveraged for both beneficial and nefarious ends.  Independently as well as when leveraged collectively, the power of Literature, Art, and Fashion have built empires, shaped religions, encouraged global exploration, incited massive revolutions, toppled governments, liberated oppressed peoples, inspired nationalism, formulated societal class structures, exposed people’s minds to new ideas, and have forged the backbone of literally every aspect of human society we currently experience every single day.

In this comprehensive examination of these fundamental elements which, if you will, lubricate the very gears of multi-level “cause & effect” interactions all throughout society, we will:

1) Go on campaign with great military generals like Julius Caesar, Marcus Aurelius, and Napolean Bonaparte.

2) Briefly explore the overwhelming influences of various religious texts like: The Bible, The Koran, The Mahabharata, and The Tao Te Ching.

3) Visit the bustling workshops of celebrated artists like Botticelli, Michael Angelo, Artemisia Gentileschi, Élisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun, Jean-Louis David, Eugène Delacroix, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres,  François Boucher, Giovanni Paolo Panini, Jean-Antoine Watteau, Picasso, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Andy Warhol, and Jean-Baptiste Basquiat.

4) Examine the literary influences of personalities like Homer, Socrates, the Greek tragedians, William Shakespeare, Goethe, Marquise de Rambouillet, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Victor Hugo, Alexander Dumas, Charles Dickens, Lord Byron, Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Shelley, Jane Austen, Edith Wharton, Simone de Beauvoir, Virginia Woolf, Anaïs Nin, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Adam Smith, Albert Einstein, George Orwell, James Baldwin, and various others.

5) Explore the writings of inflammatory literature which falsely gave credence to long-term damaging racist ideology.

6) Voyeuristically, peek inside the titillating world of the late 18th-century French courtesan culture, the “Demimonde”, and examine how emerging erotic literature of the time helped shape, influence, and collided with the worlds of Art, Fashion, Theatre, Opera, and Ballet.

7) Peruse the lives and workshops of various legendary Fashion Houses and Designers like Charles Fredrick Worth, Paul Poiret, Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, Salvatore Ferragamo, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Hubert de Givenchy, Pierre Balmain, Emilio Pucci, Valentino Garavani, Vivienne Westwood, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Betsey Johnson, Giorgio Armani, Donna Karan, Gucci, Gianni Versace, Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton, Alexander McQueen, Karl Lagerfeld, and Virgil Abloh, just to name a few.

All in all, we will take a fascinating journey throughout global history exploring the numerous ramifications and eventual resulting outcomes of when the worlds of Literature, Art, and Fashion collide.