Reflection on Fashion and Identity
Upon reading the Fashioned Body chapters, there are several points that stuck me. The first one is that “clothes cannot always be ‘read’, since they do not straightforwardly ‘speak’ and can therefore be open to misinterpretation” (Entwistle 141). Such topic is also related to one question we discussed in the class that if our clothes shows our identity, why should we be careful not to judge others through clothes.
In my opinion, I think that our everyday clothes, as well as the fashion designs, are all representations of our identities, related to either who we are or who we want to be. However, there are two major limitations in this representation of identity, or in other words, two possible ways to weaken the relation between clothes or fashion and identity. The first one is exactly the one pointed out in the quotation, that unlike words, such fashion could be easily misinterpreted, making it harder for someone to tell specific and clear message through clothes. The second limitation is that a person may have more than one identity, and it may be difficult to show all of them at the same time on the same piece of clothing. Thus, although we express ourselves through our clothes, we may only be able to express a part of us. Therefore, it can be dangerous if others mistake that part of our identity as the only representation of ourselves. On the other hand, it is also prejudicial for us to take for granted that what someone expresses through their clothes is their entire identity.
One other point I found interesting is the separation of sex and gender. Although such concept is not new to me, I am amazed by the idea that “while distinctions of gender drawn by clothes are arbitrary, they often become fundamental to our ‘commonsense’ readings of bodies” (Entwistle 171). In the general concept of sex and gender, sex is natural and gender is assigned by human ourselves, is called culture. However, this quotation argues that as gender is expressed in people’s daily outfits, the masculinity and femininity are so common in everyday life that people no longer regard it as part of culture, but taking it for granted that such gender identities are just nature. Therefore, people could easily regard sex and gender as the same thing. This example indicates the great power of fashion, the ability to transform cultural expressions into nature, due to its overwhelmingly high frequency to show up in people’s sights. In this sense, although we might blame fashion for messing sex and gender together, it might also be the key solution to separate sex and gender. As in nowadays, people are less constrained by the masculine and feminine symbols, people have the opportunity and choice to wear clothes other than those associated with gender expression. Such fashion might gradually unwind the close connection between sex and gender.
Reference
Entwistle, J. (2000) The fashioned body: Fashion, dress and modern social theory. Cambridge: Polity.
After-class Assignment: Mask
For more detailed documentation, see the collaborative notion page.
Mia and I were inspired by the red veil (红盖头) that traditional Chinese brides wore on their wedding day to cover their heads while waiting for the groom to uncover it. Despite all the myth and historical stories concerning the origin of the red veil, it has become one of the most symbolic item in traditional Chinese wedding. Some of its functions are to prevent the bride’s face from seeing by other men, and to protect the bride from evil spirits. In nowadays, the representative meaning of the red veil overwhelms its utility functions, as the veil conveys a transformation of identity for the bride. Putting on the red veil, the bride turns from whoever she was into a wife, an identity highly associated with the groom. Just as the color of red intends to Red can attract good luck and avoid evil, while separating the bride from her old identity and old life; the red veil blocks whatever identity the bride had, and assign this new wife identity to her.
And this is just where our idea came from. As I mentioned above that in many situations our clothes can express not all, but only a few of our identities. And here lies the dangerous of mistaking this partial identity as the whole. When putting on the red veil, people thinks of no other identity except wife, or maybe daughter and sister, for the bride’s family members. We want to emphasize such strong and dangerous power of the red veil. Therefore, we ask ourselves the question, what identities may woman have, but being hidden by the traditional marriage and family concept? And then, we made this new red veil that emphasizes both the traditional identities for woman, but also those being neglected by the general public.
Mia and I designed this kind of red veil that remains most parts of the original red veil, which is a red cloth covering the head and some part of the shoulder. The different part is that we cut the veil into two pieces so that the user’s eyes would not be covered by the veil. Representing that the bride would no longer be constrained when entering into marriage. To connect the upper and lower part of the veil, we used eight square clothes, attached by hot glue. On these white clothes, we assigned eight identities, four of them are related to traditional women, the other four are some potential identities being neglected.
In the front the of veil, we have four traditional identities: mother (母) , daughter (女) , wife (妻) , sister(姊); which used red ropes to draw the characters, just like traditional Chinese decorates. These identities are the ones usually came to people’s mind when someone thinks of any woman in red veils. At the back, we chose four other identities: STEM, feminist (女權主义), revolutionary, world citizen (世界公民). Such unconventional identities are at the back of the veil, showing that they are being constantly forgotten. However, one can also put them in the front of her head, to strengthen the importance of such identities.
Some of the potential improvements are to cut a bigger central part, as the red cloth on top of the head is a little bit too small such that it’s not so easy to wear; we can also add more decoration on the red veil to make it more like a traditional red veil, or add more unconventional elements to show our spirit of changing the stereotype.