Sunday, October 02, 2011

Fragments of a Fashionable Discourse

After reading this article i thought it was really strange that gendered clothing and the difference between men and women's clothing is a recently new idea. I find it really hard to picture men and women wearing the same thing and having no distinctions. This being said i know that today there are cultures and societies where it is acceptable for men to wear what we would consider to be women's clothing. One such example is an Irish kilt. While the kilt is a socially acceptable cultural tradition in Ireland, here in the United States a person wearing a skirt might be mocked, ridiculed, and even be subject to physical harm. However i feel that women have a more lenient dress code. I say this because while men are typically limited to wearing suites to formal events or for work women can wear suites, dresses, and skirts. This to me also brings something to mind. I feel that men are required to follow a much stricter and absolute formula in their fashion. However this is not just limited to their fashion.

Another thing that i found interesting was the idea of being culturally visible. However, one thing i believe is that clothing defines us within society through price tags and name brands. For example if one were to compare clothing from different department stores (macys and Nemin Marcus) the only difference between some of the clothing is the name on the tag, although other differences do exist among other pieces, such as material and style. However, the fact that it makes such a difference to someone where they shop says a lot about culture. For example if a person was to be a plain tee shirt some people wouldnt differentiate between the macys shirt and the nemin marcus shirt. However, other people who buy into the whole its the price on the tag that matters would spend 10X the amount on the same shirt. This to me says a lot about fashion and where clothing has gone from being a shield from the elements to being another factor in differing status.

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