Clothing and Society: Essays
Written By: Amayah Meas
Semiotic Analysis in Fashion and Dress
Semiology is a field of science that studies signs within society. Founded by Ferdinand de Saussure, semiology focuses on how language is a formal system that is collective representation of a society. Language is also an abstract system of signs. All objects are made up of these signs and have two levels known as the signifier (the physical object) and the signified (a mental concept) that are associated with each other by cultural reproduction of ideas. A semiotic analysis is observing objects and coming up with a deeper meaning behind it based on these two signs. It looks beyond the surface to study sensual signals that reveal underlying ideas. An example of a semiotic analysis is a woman wearing a red bodycon dress and heels. The signifiers are the dress and heels, and the signified is the assumption that this woman is probably going out to a club or party to have fun. The dress and heels are associated with fun formal events like parties where most people wear similar styles of garments. Similarly, the color red on women is associated with a higher level of attraction based on the psychology of color. Red makes a woman appear more desirable and is often associated with love, including things like Valentine’s Day and red roses. This cultural meaning that was given to the color red and objectification of women contribute to the signified idea that she is probably going out. Another example of a semiotic analysis is observing a person wearing glasses and a suit. These items are the signifiers, and they signify that the person is probably smart and professional. Glasses have been associated with being smart, which is a concept that has been reinforced in film, television, et cetera in American media. Similarly, wearing suits are associated with professionals like business owners and CEOs. When combined, a person wearing glasses and a suit is assumed to be smart and/or of high authority. These are examples of how our clothing and accessories can communicate a nonverbal message to anyone who sees us. Most times, our clothing is the first thing people notice about us which subconsciously affects their perception of us before we even speak. The signified mental concept is due to generalizations that have been culturally reproduced. This concept reinforces the idea that semiotics (signs in language) is directly connected and influenced by cultural ideas and communication.
The Meaning Behind “Fashion in France is a System”
A systemic analysis views fashion and clothing as a system. The system has interacting parts that go together to form a unified whole. Each part has a designated role that fits into the hierarchal structure. It is organized and has rules and regulations that apply to each role, and all these factors work together to form an orderly system. France is a system of fashion because for centuries, it has worked to maintain its reputation relating to fashion. Luxury is a system because it has exclusivities, is scarce, expensive, and has a long history of traditions and good reputation. Many luxury brands are French because France has historically made an effort to build and maintain its luxury image through intentional systemic practices. King Louis the XIV worked hard to sell French luxury goods during his reign. Some examples are that he imposed high tariffs on imports to limit consumption of foreign luxury goods. He also enforced specific court room dress that required the highest quality of fabrics and construction to help build the French luxury market. Other sumptuary laws reinforced by the guild system controlled clothing consumption habits. The guild system had members involved in the production process of clothing rather than contemporary fashion and created a clear distinction between the two. The guild/clothing system is associated with the technical skills for garment production, while the fashion system is known for the design and publicity aspect of what is trending in fashion. Couturiers belong in the fashion system. Charles Frederik Worth is known as the first couturier who was established in France. Before him, the client was the one in control and decided how a garment would be made. By declaring himself as the dressmaker and reserving the role of power with the client, he established the House of Worth to produce luxury gowns. Haute Couture clothing is custom made, expensive, and very exclusive. ‘Haute Couture’ and ‘couturiers’ are terms that inherently became associated with France and led to Haute Couture fashion shows. France began producing miniature dolls, fashion plates, and printed magazines to spread news about couture dresses. France maintains several systems that produce clothing, fashion, and publicity to solidify itself as the face of fashion. This effort that has been kept up for centuries explains why many concepts associated with fashion is claimed to originate or heavily lie in France; a result from a system.
The Symbolism of Uniforms
Uniforms are social symbols of membership within a group or community. They signify who are members and non-members, suppress individuality and expression, and sends organizational messages about the group wearing them. They signify a sense of togetherness and formulate an assumption that all members of the group conform to the same values, norms, and beliefs. Uniforms can either be mandated or voluntary. Types of uniforms are occupational, school, religious, sports, ethnic, and subcultural. They are enforced for reasons that limit confusion, competition, and create order and maintain a hierarchy. The institutions that enforce uniforms may neglect the fact that they have negative effects on the individual wearing them by suppressing their identity and creativity. Uniforms are a form of control. In my opinion, schools and corporations have full authority over their employees and students to tell them how to dress. This system can be used effectively by preventing harmful styles of clothing including hate speech or controversial political messages. These are examples of how an institution can use their power to control dress for good reasons that could create a tense environment. However, I believe that many institutions, specifically schools, abuse their authority by enforcing too many harmful rules on students’ dress, especially female students. At my high school, there was a dress code in place with over ten restrictions on girls as opposed to one on boys. These restrictions include, but were not limited to, shorts and skirts must be below fingertip length, no exposed midriff, cleavage, shoulders, no tight pants such as leggings, no head coverings (unless for religious reasons) including no ethnic coverings such as durags or bonnets, and more. There were no rules that specifically applied to boys, only those stating no baseball caps which applies to all students in general. The entire dress code aimed at imposing restrictions among female and minority groups to limit distraction of male students. These general rules are harmful because items of clothing look different on all different body types. For example, a particular tee shirt may be a normal length on a short girl but be cropped on a tall girl or reveal cleavage on a girl with a bigger bosom. This causes girls with different body types to buy clothes that specifically accommodate to these “distractions” that they cannot control. It can also lead girls to develop insecurities and body dysmorphia issues because of this objectification all throughout their adolescence. When I was a senior, I worked with four other girls to draft a new dress code after several unnecessary incidents exemplified female objectification by a man of power and revealed how condescending and abusive of authority it can be.
Cultural Appropriation in Fashion – What is it?
Cultural appropriation is when members of a dominant culture take aspects of a minority culture including customs, ideas, practices, and ways of dress that is unacknowledged and unappreciated. Often, members of the dominant culture show little understanding or respect from the minority culture they are appropriating. In fashion, western designers and brands have made controversial decisions by designing garments that are directly inspired/taken from non-western cultures and displayed on a white person. These designs are passed as trendy and fashion. This undermines the societal oppression that minority groups have experienced throughout history. Historically, westerners have the ideology that they are superior to non-westerners. Non-western culture and dress are mocked and not taken seriously compared to western ideas, and this theory is known as the Cultural Hierarchy. Therefore, when westerners suddenly take elements of cultures that they have historically deemed as inferior and use them for their own designs and lifestyle to pass as fashion, it is harmful, hypocritical, and dismissive of the minority culture’s significance and history. An example of cultural appropriation in the fashion industry is when Valentino styled white models with cornrows in their Spring 2015 collection. Traditionally, cornrows are a hairstyle that the black community is known for wearing. They have experienced prejudice, discrimination, and been ridiculed for this hairstyle by white people throughout history because of the belief that westerners are superior. When a European designer uses this cultural hairstyle on white models to pass it as trendy fashion for their white audience, it is contradictory and inappropriate because it dismisses the hardships that the black community has faced by white people and any cultural significance associated with it. Another example of cultural appropriation and fashion is Victoria’s Secret’s ‘Sexy Little Geisha’ look from their Go East collection in 2012. Apparently, this look was inspired by Asian culture and featured floral patterns on a mesh body suit and fan, including matching chopsticks with tassels in the hair. This look was depicted on a white woman. The outfit contributed to the western fetishization of Asian cultures. Historically, Asian women have been hypersexualized and depicted as submissive to serve western and male fantasies. Exploiting Asian culture in a way that is demeaning and objectified, especially on a white woman, is harmful in multiple ways because it continues the fetishization of Asians while also claiming it as white fashion. When western brands and people in general take aspects of minority cultures that they have historically discriminated against, and use it as their own as fashion or lifestyle choices, it is extremely dismissive to non-western traditions, history, and hardships, and contributes to the false ideology that anything western is ultimately superior.
References
Yuniya Kawamura, Professor at Fashion Institute of Technology, Clothing and Society
