Dress and fashion can be used not only to symbolize culture, religion or spirituality, but it can also be used as a tool of oppression as well as liberation. For many people, dress is an expression of personality, faith, choice and identity. It can also deeply affect one’s spiritual self and help connect the wearer to her inward self. Marco Pallis describes the significance and meaningfulness between dress and spiritual identity and how, according to him, clothing ranks among the most important but least analyzed sites of colonization. He is particularly interested analysing clothing as a component of spirituality. He writes that ‘of the many things a person puts to use in the pursuit of her earthly vocation there are none, perhaps, which are so intimately bound up with her whole personality as the clothes she wears (Pallis, p.9). The first thing that Pallis notes is how clothing greatly modifies the appearance of a person and even his/her facial Ramzi Taleb expressions and thoughts. The impression that clothing makes on the wearer is marked in that it affects how one feels, thinks, speaks and interacts with others. For Pallis, one’s choice of clothing, within the actual limits of the resources that are available to her, is indicative of three things. It demonstrates what she views as compatible with a normal human state and normal human dignity. It also shows how she likes herself to see and be seen and what type of attributes she prefers to exhibit. He also notes that the person’s choice of clothing will be affected by the view that she wants her neighbours to create of her. This social consideration and the previous aspect of self respect are very closely bound up and continually intersect (p.12). For Pallis, all of the pol... ... middle of paper ... ...d to believe that everything their parents taught them was wrong and their worldviews invalid. Another way that cultural inferiority was engrained in the children was through the dress code. Children had their braids cut and were provided with new, non-Aboriginal clothing. The school officials took before-and-after pictures, and these pictures were used as proof of their success in the cultural assimilation of the Aboriginals. We can see that the elimination of Indigenous clothing was seen as a clear affirmation of the success of colonization, which is in its essence, the eradication of one culture by another. Clothing played an important role in the ways in which Indigenous peoples were viewed, as traditional Indigenous clothing was a visual, symbolic marker of their spirituality and culture, the very thing the colonizers wanted to get rid of (Jaine, 1993, p.41).
When noticing a person who wears a similar clothes everyday, one may wonder what their intentions behind their attire is. In Isabel Allende’s story “Simple Marie” featured in The Stories of Eva Luna, the clothes are taken in a figurative sense just as much as in a literal function. Just as clothes are made to cover up one's physical body, clothes can be interpreted as a covering of one’s soul and true identity. Although, not very evident on the surface of the story, one can discover the intentions of Maria, by correlating the situation to her attire. The symbolism that Allende creates within the clothing of Maria illustrates a deeper sense to her vulnerability and reasoning within the situations of her life.
From the conventional Victorian dresses of the 1800’s to the rock-and-roll tee shirts of the 1980’s, American culture has experienced incredibly diverse trends in clothing. This ever changing timeline of fashion provokes the question: what is the cause of such differing styles? By considering the state of society throughout the eras, it can be seen that clothing directly correlates with the current way of life. Specifically, American women’s fashion of the 1920’s and 1930’s proves to not simply be a meaningless trend – rather an accurate reflection of the specific era.
Fashion exists all around world ever since mankind started living on the Earth. The ways people live have changed as well as fashion changed drastically through out the human history and people are looking for fashionable and also comfortable garments that can be wear at any occasion. Simplicity and silhouette that allows the body to be comfortable while being active has also became one of the leading fashion trends in 1900s. Because of the relationship between sportswear and American lifestyle, its evolution drastically changed the fashion industry during 1900s.
In all parts of the world and throughout history the topic of a woman’s dress has been an issue. In the United States alone 1.3 million women have revealed having been raped or sexually assaulted in their life time while only 84 thousand rape cases were reported to the authorities. This means that a woman in the United States has a 1 in 5 chance of being sexually assaulted with the height of the danger being between the ages of 16 and 19 years old. Though this is not only an issue that effects the women of this country only three percent of men have admitted to having been sexually assaulted compared to the much larger percentage of women suffering from these kind of advances. This issue behind this subject is that women are often blamed for attacks that happen to them because of the manner in which they dress. Some of the first questions ask of a woman by investigators in what she was wearing that to time of the assault. The general attitude is that the woman was “asking for it.” and thus were given what they deserved. In many homes and religious institutions the topic of a woman’s modesty is presented while she is still a girl. She is often taught to clothe herself in such a way as to not arouse the lust of a man and that it is their duty to keep the thoughts of a male or any other individual clean. To this view point there is much objection as many women believe they should not be held responsible for the actions or thoughts of another being. In order to resolve many issue linked with this subject the proposal can be made that members of both sexes refrain from wearing clothing. This proposal is made, with this topic in mind, as a simple suggestion to to resolve conflicting opinions on the matter of dress and modesty, to redu...
In both Australia and the United States of America, indigenous people were seen as unfit to care for their children. In many cases, children were removed from the custody of their parents and sent to a boarding school. Once there, they would have to fit into the idea of whiteness—they could not speak their native languages, their names would be changed and they would have their appearance changed. To the settlers, the native people were the “marked” people who needed to change their uncivilized ways to become more like the whites. White women were often the strongest supporters of these institutions and as a result became the agents of nation building.
Today’s American women are following centuries old traditions of rebelling against society’s outlook on women around. Earlier in America’s history, it was unheard of for a woman to be in both the public and domestic sphere. Women were forced to spend most of their life in the domestic sphere, and wear ridiculous clothes everyday. For a long time, women have been degraded and pushed around, causing women to initial movements to change the way society treats women. In America, “the land of the free”, women have to fight for their equal rights. Reformers, such as Fanny Wright, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Amelia Bloomer and many more have done so through their actions, and speeches. Nevertheless, in recent times fashion has become an available source of expression. It is a powerful tool to be able to be seen and not heard--but still get the message across. Since its humble beginnings, fashion has oftentimes just existed, but in the past century, it has existed as a form of expression, art, and liberation Now, women are still being influenced and challenged by the media and their peer, but slowly, more and more women are standing up for themselves.
Fashion is richly embedded in the history and culture in France. The country is the home of many famous designers, and is credited with creating the concepts haute couture and prêt-à-porter; two core segments of the fashion industry. Today Paris, Milan, London, and New York are the “Big Four” fashion capitals in the world. While France is well known to be the oldest fashion empire in the world, with expansion of the industry, is it still considered the leader?
Fashion is a form people use as a way for self expression. For me, fashion dictates how a person sense of style is; some may be bold and loud or simple and calm in which it also gives others an outlook on how their character may be. Although fashion is a way to express ones’ sense of style it does not tells us who the person is personally. Fashion in the society of the 1900s has changed female gender roles then and now by the way their roles changed during the time.
Dressing a certain way can change the world’s perception. This idea of changing one’s appearance to change one’s self is a common occurrence in movies and on TV: Mulan, Mrs. Doubfire, Just one of the Guys, etc. For example, in the movie Coming to America, Eddie Murphy’s character pretends not to be rich in order to find a woman who likes him for more than just his money. In reality, the opposite of this is far truer. How often do we wear our most expensive clothes to a wedding, where we will be meeting many people for the first time? There are children who would rather walk home that be picked up in their families beat up car or who are ashamed that they have to take their lunch in a paper bag rather than a canvas one. A person never wants to be judged by what they don’t have. Someone who is proud of what they have may be more inclined to believe what Madame Merle does. But someone, possibly of a lower class, who doesn’t have much to be proud of, would much rather be judged on their character, like Isabel
Introduction Historically, multiple styles of dressing have been created during the last several decades, which played an important role in modern fashion in the UK. Everyone has a different and unique dressing style in their everyday life. Some styles are influenced by vintage styles which are attributing to the deep effects of old vogue, and another group of dressing styles are inclined into the fresh element. Despite those different styles, some of them have even evolved into the milestones in fashion history. To start this essay, it will introduce the evaluation of the first significant revolution of dressing style in the 1960s.
It is quite evident as you walk around the streets of almost any city or town in America that the line between what was once considered the black style of dress and the white styles has become less and less evident. This is especially true with the younger kids in junior high and high school. The baggy pants and shirts with labels and bright colors that were once reserved for the inner city black and Latino kids, are now being worn by whites in wealthy suburban neighborhoods.
To begin with, I shall look at what fashion is; it is a currently popular style or practice involving clothing, footwear or accessories. It mostly refers to the current trends in looks and dressing style of a person (Cumming 234). In most cases, fashion is confusedly related to costumes; when a person talks of fashion they are seen to mean fashion in terms of textile. Fashion is seen to originate from the Western world and it is copied by other places. In this paper, we shall look at how fashion affects lifestyles and the group of people who are affected most. The paper further investigates how media is used to transmit fashion from one region to the other. Although it has been seen to affect people’s lives many people have different perspectives on fashion and dressing.
Clothing is something that defines a person, and allows society to have an outlook on an individual’s lifestyle and beliefs. Unlike criticizing other material things like a car, a home or even something as simple as a television set, criticism of clothing is very personal. This suggests that there is a high correlation between clothing and personal identity and values. (Breward, pg.1) Clothing in a sense has the ability to communicate thought. However, similarly to art interpretations, this does not mean that any two people will perceive these visual aesthetics similarly.
Fashion is a controversial issue in society nowadays. We live in a consumerism advanced era in which whether following fashion trends or not has become a debatable point. Many people believe that it is important to follow fashion trends. For example, Lord Chesterfield once said, “If you are not in fashion, you are nobody.” The question is why fashion should be an essential matter of concern to all of us. As far as I am concerned, each person should be able to decide if one wants to follow a trend or not.
Fashion is a currently valued style of appearance and behavior. It is a way to shape one’s external custom. The history of fashion dates back to hundred years ago and it has seen a remarkable progress in the 21st century. Man has endeavored a lot to bring new changes according to style and elegance that suits his needs and desires. Apparently, our culture is inclined towards fashion and change in the former brings change in the latter.When we talk about Pakistan, from the independence day of August 14, 1947 up-to-date, it has been a society in transition and being dynamic in nature, it isconsequently ever-changing and its patterns are transforming from time to time.