FASHION MATTERS
The subject of fashion is often dismissed as silly or unimportant. It can seem frivolous. It’s true, clothing is not the most important thing in life.
But it’s also true that humans in a society talk to each other. And one of the ways they talk to each other is through what they wear. So fashion is not frivolous or shallow matter, after all.
The model that wears a highfashion designer gown certainly looks fabulous. If only all women could look like her in the same outfit. Fashion modeling is a show – and every regular-looking woman understands that.
The multitude of ‘normal’ women would ask, “What does this hyped-up outfit mean for my life?” Nothing. They know that they don’t all have the physical gift or the money to spend.
A woman approvingly flipping the pages of a glossy fashion magazine has something very different at the back of her mind. She admires the photographs, yes, but she knows these are all set up. And she knows just what she’ll look good in.
Every woman – or man – has an intimate relationship with her favorite clothes. She allows a dress or a shirt to hug her body. It gives her a feeling of being in a position of power and confidence.
What motivates people to put what they put on their body? Each one would have her or his own motivation. But, in general, it’s about looking good, feeling good, and projecting the person’s self-worth.
Whether the person is comfortable or not in an outfit is communicated. If she looks comfortable, she’s likely to come across as someone who’s in control. Maybe the dress is her own choice, without anyone or anything forcing it on her.
If she looks awkward in a dress, it communicates her stress. Maybe she doesn’t like to be in it, but is forced to. She doesn’t have control over the situation.
People have stories to tell about what they wear, and why. These stories could be plain practical or something sentimental, or both. Some clothes set their wearers in the right mood, others bring back pleasant memories, and others still bring up curious questions.
A garment worker in Cambodia marvels at the construction – and expense – of the bras she stitches at the factory when her own is bought from a pile of jumble; a
TV star celebrates the influence of a friend on her sense of style. And one performance artist treasures a pair of hiking boots that have seen her traverse the Great Wall of China.
In “Color Taxonomy,” author Tavi Gevinson codifies the spectrum according to clothes: “Gray was made for nice sweaters and gross sweatpants. Pink is fraught with politics. Gold has been rightfully monopolized by disco, ‘Dynasty’, and the Illuminati.” Filmmaker Greta Gerwig has a charming love story about the flannel shirt she wears to write in; documentarian Albert Maysles, reveals his attachment to a quilted jacket known as a fufaika, which once identified one as a Russian peasant. Piper Kerman, author of “Orange is the New Black,” a memoir describing her year in prison, recalls how she wore a “vintage 1950s pencil-skirt suit I had bought on eBay” to make her final court appearance on the advice of a lawyer who told her: “We want the judge to be reminded of his own daughter or niece or neighbor when he looks at you.”
Clothing can also be viewed from a cultural, historical and anthropological perspective. Now, the matter becomes academic in those ways. Indeed, clothes matter in more ways than simply touch skin.
There’s a project called “Sentimental Stories,” which gathers material from details that are sometimes posted alongside clothes for sale on the auction site eBay, revealing tales about the clothes’ previous owners. Why is it special? Why does it have meaning? And why does the previous owner decide to part of it?
Bottom line: What people wear, even though they might not care to admit it, matters. Clothes are a language by which they are judged by others: a shorthand that allows them to communicate with others, and an expression of their feelings of self-worth or status.