Fragments of a Fashionable Discourse

In Kaja Silverman's article, Fragments of a Fashionable Discourse, two concepts stood out to me.

In the article, Silverman states that "gender has replaced class as the primary distinguishing marker within clothing over the past two centuries". I had never really thought about clothes as labeling an individual as a certain class or as a certain gender--it was more of an expression of one's personality and how they felt. However, after thinking about it, I found Silverman's statement to be true especially in society today. When people look at how others dress, they cannot say much about the social or economic class of others. There are those who flaunt their wealth, and those who do not, and there are also those who wear expensive designer clothes even if they are not all that well-off. I have several friends who are considered pretty well off, but just by looking at their clothing, they just look like an average middle-class person. However, when people observe the clothes others wear, they make a decision whether verbally or mentally, that "that girl is a girly-girl" or "she is a tomboy" or "he is more feminine". For example, when a girl wears dresses and skirts with heals or nice sandals, she is considered more feminine than a girl who wears jeans, a t-shirt, accompanied with vans.

Another idea that stood out to me from the article is Silverman's reference to a statement made by Quentin Bell that "'the history of fashionable dress is tied to the competition between classes'". This is very relevant in society today. The competition is not necessarily between the higher economic class and the middle economic class, but more so between the higher social class and the middle social class. The fashion trends are usually worn and made by people in the higher social class, for instance, celebrities. The lives of celebrities are portrayed as glamorous and many average middle social class people strive to be like them, copying what they do, eat, and wear. The situation usually goes like this: people in the high social class are the ones who wear clothes that end up getting labeled as trendy and as "in", and the people in the middle social class see this whether it be in magazines or on TV, and try to copy what they see. In other words, it is the higher social class making trends, and the middle social class striving to become like the higher social class. However, this is a never-ending cycle because as Silverman states, "that by the time most people have access to to a given 'look', it will no longer be really 'fashionable'".