Jan van Eyck, Portrait of Giovanni Arnolfini and his Wife. 1434, oil on oak, 82.2 x 60cm. The National Gallery, London, England. Available from: ARTstor, www.artstor.com (accessed February 27th, 2017).

Language has a class system just like in society, so naturally this would affect the dress of different classes in different time periods.This image is reflective of a distinct class and their dress habits which can be compared to their role in society at the time.

Fra Angelico, The Meeting of St. Francis and St. Dominic. 1420-1440, tempera on panel, 26 x 26.7cm. The AMICA Library, San Fransisco, California, USA. Available from: The New School Collections, http://p8181-dmc.library.newschool.edu.libproxy.newschool.edu/luna/servlet/detail/AMICO~1~1~59321~91915:The-Meeting-of-St–Francis-and-St–?sort=OCS&qvq=q:fra%2Bangelico;sort:OCS&mi=2&trs=69 (accessed Feb. 27, 2017).

Just like language reflects a society, so does a language change in what your vocation is in life. Monks are removed from society and the language they use is reflected in their differing dress.

Marc Jacobs for Perry Ellis, Spring Ready to Wear 1993. 1992, photograph. Vogue Runway, New York, NY, USA. Available from: Vogue Runway, http://www.vogue.com/fashion-shows/spring-1993-ready-to-wear/perry-ellis (Accessed Feb. 27, 2017).

Subcultures influence society and signify a change in society’s point of view. Subcultures introduce words and ideas like “grunge” which then finds itself into fashion.

Associated Press, Fashion Quant Mod Styles. October, 25th, 1968. Photograph, 2360 x 3000 – 1.45 MB. AP Images, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. Available from: AP Images, www.apimages.com (Accessed February 26th, 2017).

Changes in acceptable fashion signify a major change in a society’s language about a particular topic. For instance, Mary Quant introducing the mini-skirt shows a change in the way society, or part of society, viewed feminism.

Greco-Roman Anonymous, Woman. 1st Century BC, marble. 194 x 68.6 x 46 cm. The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, MD, USA. Available from: ARTstor, www.artstor.com (accessed February 26, 2017).

Ancient Rome was simple and structured. This need for military-esque order is evident in their language. This is reflected in the way they dressed by simply taking a piece of woven fabric and draping it on themselves. It is interesting however that the way she drapes it here signifies a specific time period.

Anonymous, Nike. Copy of 4th Century BC original, sculpture. Berlin State Museums, Berlin, Germany. Available from: ARTstor, www.artstor.com (accessed February 26, 2017).

Anonymous, WII Women War Effort (Gloria Pickett, Jane Greer, Inga Rundvold). 1942, photograph. 2322 x 3000 – 1.07 MB. Washington DC, USA. AP Images, 5056089. Available from: AP Images, www.apimages.com (Accessed February 26, 2017).

WWII saw a particular change in language. Propaganda was everywhere for the war efforts and the way people talked about it reflected America’s values. This sense of duty and unity can also be seen influencing women’s wear and the language of the new role they were taking on.

Associated Press, Woodstock 1969. August 15, 1969, photograph.  4674 x 3693 – 11.62 MB. Bethel, New York, USA. AP Images, 6908150250. Available from: AP Images, www.apimages.com (Accessed February 26, 2017).

Subcultures, such as the hippie movement in the late 60’s and early 70’s represent a change in the way society saw the war happening around them. This movement and language of love and freedom is clearly shown in the way they dress.

Olivia Swinford, Luis’ Mother. July 2015, photograph. Huasipamba, Ecuador. Available from: Personal Archives (Accessed Feb 26th, 2017).

Olivia Swinford, Women in Huasipamba, Ecuador. July 2015, photograph. Huasipamba, Ecuador. Available from: Personal Archives (Accessed Feb 26th, 2017).

These two images I took when I spent 3 weeks in a small town in Ecuador. Being struck by the language barrier, I was also struck by the beautiful. colorful skirts, and the way the women of the town dressed, even to do their everyday work of milking cows and gardening. Both felt foreign to me but tied together in some way.

Sensory Reactions

1. Does the garment have stylistic, religious, artistic or iconic references? – Possibly 1980’s, slightly stronger shoulders. No references that I am aware of.
2. Is the garment stylistically consistent with the period from which it came? Does it seem to reflect the influences of that period or diverge from it? I would say it was influenced by it. You can see the strong shoulder on the dress which adds to this masculine/feminine duality of the 80’s.
3. What is the texture and weight of the cloth or other materials used to construct the garment? Velvet of medium weight, lace, polyester lining.
4. Would a person wearing this garment make noise? No, the velvet and lace would be pretty silent.
5. Does the garment smell? No, it doesn’t really have a smell to it.

Personal Reactions

What was the impetus to examine this garment? Were you interested in the person who wore it, the maker, or some other aspect of its object biography? – I was interested in the materials first and foremost. I saw the velvet and lace and that drew me to examine it. I then noticed the Givenchy label and I took an even closer look at it.

1. Are you the same gender and size as the person who wore or owned the garment? Did a person who was bigger or smaller than you wear it? Would the garment fit your body? –  I am the same gender, but probably a little smaller than the owner of this garment but it could probably fit me, though not perfectly.
2. How would it feel on your body? Would it be tight or loose? Would the garment cause discomfort or pain? – The silhouette is tailored but loose, not very restricting, The fabric would feel comfortable on the skin as well.
3. Would you wear this garment if you could? Is the style and color appealing to you? – the black color is appealing to me, I might wear it, I have initial interest in trying it on to see if I look right in it.
4. Does the garment demonstrate a complexity of construction or element of mastery in the design? Does the dress artifact have a functional component to the design? It is clearly a nice, cocktail/dinner dress, short but not dysfunctional in any way. It appears to be made well, it is couture.
5. Did the maker want to evoke emotion, status, sexuality, or gender roles with the garment? Does the garment seem to express humor, joy, sorrow or fear? It is clearly a feminine piece, the materials evoke a sense of status, and the silhouette paired with the materials, definitely illicit status.
6. Do you have an emotional reaction to the garment? Can you identify a personal bias that should be acknowledged in your research? I am probably bias toward the designer name and the materials used. I don’t think I would have given it as much attention if it was not a designer name. I am also bias toward the feminine nature of it.

Contextual Information

1. If you were permitted access to the provenance record for the artifact, what does this information reveal about the owner, and their relationship to the garment?  – I think it would reveal some more details to how the designer saw the garment in use, what girl he pictures dressing and how he developed the garment in the time he was working on it.
2. Does the museum, study or private collection have other garments that similar, or by the same designer/maker? Yes, Beacon’s closet had similar garments in that they were also vintage and from big French babels like a Dior jacket and  YSL piece.
3. Do other museums have similar objects? Can you identify similar objects in online collections of dress? – Yes, a few museums like The Metropolitan Museum of Art have pieces from Givenchy on their online archive as well as featuring some pieces in their annual Costume Institute exhibitions.
4. Have other scholars written about this type of garment or the designer’s work in books or peer-reviewed journals? Yes, Givenchy has had numerous reviews written about him and his work.
5. Are there similar garments or related ephemera available for sale on Easy, eBay, online vintage stores, or auction sites? – Yes, there are plenty of modern and vintage Givenchy items being sold on these websites for hundreds of dollars instead of the $64 this dress was being sold for.
6. Are there photographs, paintings, or illustrations of this garment, or of similar garments in books, magazines, museum collections, or online? – Yes, there are plenty of editorials for Vogue from the 80’s that incorporate other pieces from Givenchy – tailored jackets, dresses and pants – that have similar aesthetics and shapes. There appear to be a few sketches from Givenchy in the Parson’s archives.
7. Has this garment, or others like it, been referenced in documents, such as letters or receipts, or magazines, novels, and other forms of written material? – Yes, Givenchy has been featured in numerous magazines for the past 60 years or so.

If the maker of the garment is a known designer, what information is available about them? How does this garment fit into their oeuvre? Have there been exhibitions of the designer’s work? Has the designer written an autobiography or been profiled in magazines or journals? – There are quite a few books about Givenchy and the beginning of the brand, as well as his relationship with Audrey Hepburn. Pieces by Givenchy have been cataloged for the online Met archive.

1. Barthes, Roland, Andy Stafford, and Michael Carter. The language of fashion. London: Bloomsbury, 2013.

2. Baumgarten, Linda. What clothes reveal: the language of clothing in colonial and federal America. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2012.

3. Fox, Judith Hoos. Pattern language clothing as communicator. Medford, MA: Tufts University, 2005.

4. Gasser, Elena. Structural Aspects of Bilingual Speech : A Case Study of Language Use in the Russian Immigrant Community in Israel. Frankfurt am Main, DE: Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften, 2015. Accessed February 12, 2017. ProQuest ebrary.

5. Sprache, Mehrsprachigkeit und sozialer Wandel : Culture and Language : Multidisciplinary Case Studies. Frankfurt am Main, DE: Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften, 2011. Accessed February 12, 2017. ProQuest ebrary.

6. Writing Fashion in Early Modern Italy – Eugenia Paulicelli – currently checked out of library

I am trying to study language and the way a language reflects a society’s values because I want to learn about the direct relationship language has with the way we are wired to think in order to help my reader understand the major differences when it comes to speaking a different language and how our brains are wired to communicate a certain way in a certain language. I would like to further study the concepts behind the basics of language and how it is used in one culture or time period versus another. It will progress my senior thesis work because I believe language also has a direct correlation with the way we dress since our clothing is a form of silent communication and throughout history, changes in fashion communicate a change in a given society’s change of values.