PositiveBOMBIn Sleeveless, Stagg picks up where she left off in Surveys, this time pushing her observations through a kaleidoscope of cultural lenses. Stagg’s various positions in the multifaceted world of contemporary media—as an editor at a fashion magazine, an advertising copywriter, and a branding consultant—have granted her an intimacy with those spheres’ vernaculars, and Sleeveless makes good use of this. This is cultural criticism, but straight from the horse’s mouth ... The essays \'Right Place\' and \'Right Time\' are particularly devastating and make quick work of any illusions we might harbor about the transparency of our idols. They also challenge the consumer’s ability to differentiate the real from the false, or even care which is which ... In the strongest narrative pieces...Stagg’s prose is sparsely decorated but not devoid of its own kind of poetry and rhythm. The hyper-personal tone of these pieces, more so than the analytical essays, makes for a mode of critical observation that feels closer to the subject material. Her deadpan cynicism, as well as her knack for restrained yet vivid description of settings and interactions, endears her bleak and comical impressions to us. It also proves to be a useful means of providing commentary on social controversies without sounding either dogmatic or contentious ... Stagg writes from inside an insular microcosm, but it’s one that is increasingly representative of society at large. We’re so enmeshed in these processes that we feel we have no alternative but to accept them. Stagg’s dissection of these phenomena, however, reveals our complicity in a way that implies we might have more of a choice than we think. Neuromancer served, in some ways, as a cautionary tale; Sleeveless has the same capacity for revelation.
