Clothing The Self
“clothing taken for granted aspect of social life that illustrates the centrality of dress to our experiences of embodiment and to the moral order of the social world.” In “ The Dress Bodies” author Joanne Entwistle think clothes are most essential items in our daily life. Many designs reflect many social phenomena. So society and clothing are closely linked. In the costume design process, not only the sense of form is emphasized, but also the ways of combining human body and fabric, the possibilities of structure and material, and the infusion of a certain conceptual expression into the design.
David Bowie’s strange and showy dress and stage style influenced not only the entire fashion world but also instilled new ideas into this society. He worked with many fashion designer made those meaningful costume for him. The shape and the style are the most important for the design of clothes. Starting from the “Young Storm”, anti-traditional and anti-system ideological trends are manifested in clothing. Open youth ideology has brought about a sense of gender ambiguity. Individuals see the world in a free state. Young men and women wear the same bell-bottoms and The most typical example of a shirt and clothing with a blurred gender sign is David Bowie, He painted colorful makeup on the stage, and young people are competing to follow suit. Young people are no longer content to dress like their parents, and with the development of youth culture, designers continue to refurbish and re-create elements of youth culture. The style of clothing no longer tends to be stable. Apparel design passes through clothing The deformation of the site expresses the youth’s rebellious attitude. The asymmetrical structure is repeatedly used by designers. The loose and fat street feeling is shaped and applied to the destruction and decoration of the fabric to focus on the characteristics of youth culture, and the various forms of expression are all reflected on the youth’s rebellious personality. So David Bowie is a pioneer, and his bold style has injected new elements into the society.
Our society needs these people who are in the front of fashion, they can lead us into a new era. There are some designs that are not be understood. Some people think that some of the designers’ works are too advanced and are beyond the scope of their moral views. But I think clothes can reflect a person’s personality, also because the clothes as the most everyday things, people with the same ideas and style can be gathered together. My favorite designer Rei Kawakubo said, “ I built my work from within instead of satisfying a demand for sexualized and ostentatious clothing.” Kawakubo cares about the design concept. She wants to give life to the clothes. The dullness of traditional clothing is not at the same time rebellious youth’s radical, novelty costumes that impress people with clever ideas and unique structures. Deconstruction to express, give clothing a new look, and gradually become the choice of fashion designers around the world who like this style. Modern clothing deconstruction still tends to emphasize the individual, emphasizing the unique presence of each piece of clothing.
In Crane D’s book Fashion and its social Agendas wrote about many fashion trends have bulldozed the issue of the class entirely, and instead follow patterns of “personal identity” dictated by psychographic parameters based on age, race, gender, sexuality, leisure activities, and various sub-cultural allegiances. This is a classic example of how contemporary fashion cycles operate differently from purely top-down models. So in this personalized era, we have to be ourselves. The society needs continuous innovation to develop. Clothes are a good vector to represent us.
Reflection: Bridge 2
1. What did you learn from this assignment?
I learn the process to explore my idea from the text to the exhibition and then to the final essay. They all related, I learned to describe details support my main idea.
2. What’s the strongest aspect of your essay?
The idea of the influence of fashion.
3. What needs the most improvement, besides spelling, grammar, and punctuation?
My idea is too general and large, I need to be more specific. I will choose a particular costume of David Bowie.
4. How did this essay shape your thinking in Studio?
After discussing the costume in Seminar essay gives me inspiration of having to define my identity through the material and shape of a costume.
