Lecture 1: Identification and difference
Dress is used as a means of differentiation between groups and individuals in society, whether in relation to tribe, status, gender or subculture. Dress is therefore a primary indication of both place within society and of the individual.
Berge (publishers) Fashion theory.
What are the functions of clothes?
- modesty
- environment
As a species we seem to have this notion of beautifying or adorning yourself
Clothing sends a message
- Personality
- Status
- Job
- Belief
- Gender description
- race
- nationality
"In framing the body, dress contributes to the symbolic translation of materiality into the cultural images of signifies .. Dress aids the construction of subjectivity as representation"
WARWICK, Alexandra and cavallaro, dani (2001) fashioning the frame:boundaries, dress and the body
STATUS
- Dress has always indicated how people see themselves within the social structures of their particular time.
- Dress acts as an indicator of who one is within the social sphere.
- Dress expresses occupation, gender national or regional identity, religious affiliation and social class
Garments can function as a symbolic meaning
Uniform was important in the late 19th c.
Thornstein Veblem : The theory of the leisured class (1899)
do we wear things to be seen?
Social status shown through "conspicuous consumption"
lavish clothing as a tool for social advancement
Western culture has a "need" for change/advancement or the "new" in our fashion
Women were a way for a man to show his wealth and power in the 19th c. we can particularly see this in the complex dress that became fashionable for the rich and prestigious women in England. "Arm Candy"
Brands
a show of status
quality is valued
Georg Simmell the philosophy of Clothes (1905)
He argued that clothing provided individuality and commonality; or "identification" and "difference".
dress as a statement of national identity in today's mixed race world. how do you express your culture/ sub culture?
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