After a full semester of studying the multitudinous layers that make up “fashion,” my understanding has evolved far past its conventional definitions. Fashion is the interplay between trends, style, dress, subject positions; that is dictated by conspicuous and inconspicuous articulation of who the person in the clothing/accessories is. Fashion is defined by constant contradiction, thus can never be understood via binary assumptions like “straight versus gay”— just one of twelve “either-or thinking” examples Susan B. Kaiser states in her text Fashion and Cultural Studies. Similar to how many people define themselves as bisexual, fashion personifies these spectrums on which we lie. Fashion is a reflection of this chaotic world, that is perceived, materialized, embodied, and analyzed by an observer. In the final weeks of the Intro. To Fashion course, we discussed whether fashion can be considered an art form and if it belongs alongside other displayed artworks in a museum. Suzy Menkes poses the following questions in her New York Times article Gone Global: Fashion as Art: “Is fashion really so exhibition worthy? And, more importantly, are there explicit standards by which the various shows should be judged?”¹ In the context of the article, it is difficult to pin fashion down as a fine art, as it is intrinsically linked to subjective concepts and personal feelings of designers, curators, and viewers. Consequently, it is a collaboration and discussion that must continuously occur and serves to extract the most objective understanding of its place in art. To conclude, fashion is everything and anything imposed with the limitations of the body, society, materiality, time, space, and perception. 

¹ Suzy Menkes. “Is Fashion Really Museum Art?” The New York Times. July 04, 2011. Accessed April 24, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/fashion/is-fashion-really-museum-art.html.

About Svetlana Neyman

A profile of Svetlana Neyman

I tackled the challenge of choosing a subject to analyze regarding dress practice by

thinking of people I know whose subject positions apparently differ from mine the most.

Consequently, I decided to interview my mom who is neither from my age demographic nor

place of origin. For the sake of maintaining an academic stance in this paper, I will refer to my

mom by her name: Svetlana Neyman. She is 48 years old, soon to be 49 on May 2. She was born

in Ukraine and grew up in Moscow, Russia—so she identifies herself as “ of Russian origin”

rather than of Ukrainian. Right off the bat, you can sense Svetlana’s bubbly personality by her

eagerness to begin the interview— a clear intersection with her identity as an extrovert. As a

gendered female, she loves to embrace her more feminine side. As Svetlana stated in our

interview, “[my style] has to sexy, fashionable, and [figure-flattering].” This means exposing

cleavage when she can, wearing fitted sweater dresses, and above all wearing heels. She moved

to the United States at the ripe age of 18. Since her move, Svetlana had worked her way up to the

upper middle class bracket from absolutely nothing. She now works as a nurse manager at a

home care service. After I asked about her life in Russia, Svetlana recalled that her family had

always been part of the working class and often resorted to lucrative ways of buying fashionable

clothing in Soviet Russia— where relatively everyone was poor due to Communism.

“Farsovchiki,” a Russian term for people who worked the black market, would set up businesses

in public restrooms to sell clothing that they had shipped or bought from other countries,

particularly America. There was this mindset of “The west is better than the rest”. Anyone who

dressed Western was immediately granted higher regard in society. Nevertheless, the government

was extremely opposed of any sort of Americanization in Russia. Fortunately, Svetlana had

relatives living in the New York since the 70s and would regularly receive clothing, photographs,

and letters that gave her the upper-hand in knowing the latest trends in American fashion.

Coming from a very restricted, isolated, extremely conservative and poor nation; it was no

wonder that the first thing she did upon her arrival to America was go into a cheap department

store to buy “the shortest skirt possible and the highest heels possible.” These strict conservative

ideals that were embedded in the Russian society—such as dressing modestly, and having

preservation due to lack of resources— translated somewhat into Svetlana’s psyche surrounding

her subject positioning, though she mostly assumed the freedom linked to living in America in a

rebellious act against her upbringing. Some of these rebellious acts included becoming an

independent woman, being a single mom for most of her life, dressing without regard to the

social norms with which she grew up, and abandoning Russia altogether. To summarize, her most

subject positions are that she is Caucasian, a gendered female, a mother, middle aged (48 years

old), a registered nurse, of Russian origin, and American citizen who now lives in Brooklyn,

New York. The wardrobe walkthrough later reveals how all these subject positions intersect and

interact with each other, especially in the way Svetlana decides on her outfits.

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A Look Inside Svetlana’s Wardrobe

An image of Svetlana’s wardrobe across from her bed. You can tell her love for shoes, as they take up

more than a fourth of the space.

Following up discussing Svetlana’s background, she took me on a walkthrough of her wardrobe. For someone coming from such a restrictive society, I wanted to find out her thought process behind how she organizes her wardrobe and how she chooses her clothing ensembles. Upon walking into her room, you see a wall-sized wardrobe opposite of the bed, a dresser just perpendicular to it, and two inset closet units to the other side of the bed. She only chose to show me the closets in her room as they seemed to serve the purpose of getting a more personal, in- depth analysis. Also, it would have taken all day to go through every single closet she had across the apartment— just to relay the magnitude of her clothing collection. She attributes her massive amounts of clothing to her need to preserve, stemming from her a time and place where and when she had a lack thereof. She first opens her walk-in closet. The towering collection of shoe boxes never fails to shock me— her shoe collection extends to almost all her closets and under her bed. The walk-in closet features longer summer clothes and party-wear, that she says is too revealing for work. Each item is perfectly hanged as to not touch the ground and prevent any wrinkling, as they are her more expensive pieces. The wardrobe across from her bed is divided into 4 quadrants. In the upper left are her    fancy sweaters and dresses that don’t need to be hanged in the walk-in closet since they won’t make contact with the floor. Below that are her jeans. They are folded over on hangers in sets of twos. She hangs instead of folds them in drawers because there is no space and they are more visible to the eye, easing her process of finding the right pair. The entirety of the right side of the closet is taken up by her workwear. In the dresser are sweaters, t-shirts, tank tops, and shorts that Svetlana says are “okay” to fold because she doesn’t care about them as much, they’re cheap, or they’re easy to iron. Finally, the last inset closet has more workwear that is separated by Summer items on top and Winter items on the bottom for easy access during the season. After the long tour through just a few of her closets, Svetlana described her morning routine and what factors take precedence in her decision-making process for finding an outfit for the day. On a typical weekday she wakes up, meditates, showers, and then chooses what to wear. The main factors that determine her ensemble are her mood, her circumstances for the day, the weather, and of course the type of shoe she plans to wear. Of all the four factors, she believes that her mood dictates her choice of wear. The other 3 factors seem to be more of limitations. For instance, depending on whether she will be visiting patients or staying in the office she might decide to wear lower platform shoes as opposed to heels. Often times, her OCD tendencies to preserve her clothing will prevent her from wearing something that she values more out of a fear of it becoming ruined depending on her circumstances for the day. She describes her limitations extending to social norms in her work environment, where many of her coworkers (who are mostly of Russian background) would make sly remarks about how she dresses “sexy”— probably rooting from that ingrained, conservative mentality from Soviet Russia. I proposed a hypothetical scenario in which Svetlana would have to dress to an event that disregarded all the factors that limit her style. She thinks for a moment and compares her ideal style expression is analogous to Kris Jenner’s sexy business-wear. To Svetlana, Kris is the embodiment of a beautiful, successful, independent woman. She pulled out a black jersey pencil skirt with a ruched side-slit that she immediately acknowledged was maybe too high— though I personally thought it was still on the “safe side”. She then confidently grabs a body-hugging white tank along with a black blazer.

The black jersey pencil skirt Svetlana would use to represent her style. It still had a tag attached, meaning she hasn’t found a time to wear it yet.

Last but certainly not least, she reveals her neatly boxed beige Christian Louboutin heels. I was wondering why it was that she hadn’t pulled them out earlier, but as she was assembling outfit it was clear she had them in mind all along from her choice of neutral colors that would be sure to make those iconic red soles pop. “I wish I could go to work in them,” she admits as she chuckles. She described this as sexy yet modest, and is essentially the style she strives to achieve regularly.  

It was clear that the beige Christian Louboutin heels are one of Svetlana’s most prized possessions from

the way they were neatly stored in their original packaging. They appeared almost brand new.

 

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Reflection

My Intro to Fashion course professor assigned the class the task of interviewing a person regarding their dress practice. It was preferable to find someone who occupied various subject positions outside of our own. Initially, I struggled to think of someone who would be willing to let me into their home and walk me through their personal space and belongings whilst describing their intimate moments about what, how, and why they choose what they wear. Though I tried to steer clear of interviewing relatives, as I assumed I knew them too well, I decided that interviewing my mom would not be too bad of an idea. In spite of her being my mom, there are many times I failed to see her as a person and inquire more about her behavior, or vague reflection of her inner world thereof. Upon reading through the active listening articles, I came into the interview with six questions that were essential to my project but with the understanding that I will allow the conversation to evolve organically. The results went far beyond what I expected.

I began the interview by asking my mom, Lana, to simply introduce herself in the recording. Without having to ask specifically for what I needed (occupation, age, birthplace, nationality, etc.), she covered practically all of it while I only had to listen and process the information. My iPhone did all the work of recording this information. I began with a few simple questions in order to ease up the tension, seeing as I have never interviewed my mom. It was less than halfway into the interview when Lana naturally was able to disclose some “juicy” information about herself after I requested for her to elaborate on the three words she used to describe her style. I noticed that she also used the phrase “has to be” when describing her style in three words; thus, I clarified my followup question with another: “Why does [your style] ‘have to be’ those 3 sets of standards?” Lana immediately sparked a connection to her days growing up in Russia, where poverty and a restrictive government resulted in a lack of a variety of clothing. Ergo, she has always felt a deep yearning to be fashionable. She recalled that some of her most jovial moments was receiving packages of photographs, letters, and sometimes clothing from her relatives in America. This was the only way she could learn about fashionable dress. After listening to her story, I was even more intrigued. I never knew this about my mom. I mentioned that many people I know who came from other countries have this notion of “The West is better than the rest”— a concept that my class explored in Susan B. Kaiser’s text and personal experiences. I asked if that concept also proved true in Soviet Russia in regards to clothing. This again incited a wealth of information. I learned that traditional Russian dress was hardly existent. Back in the 70s, many people either succeeded in dressing Western or tried but failed due to a fear of neglecting social norms. “God forbid I had a skirt above the knee,” Lana declared. If that was the case, the rows of Russian babushkas sitting outside the apartment building would be sure to make sly remarks. This demonstrates that this binary of “Western dress versus the ‘rest’”^1 that Susan Kaiser labels as a strictly Western-mode of thinking, transcends to other nations as well. 

The second half of the interview consisted of a walk-through of Lana’s morning routine and wardrobes. While she took me through her morning routine, I noticed a contradiction in what she said. She first mentions how her mood affects what she wears though she correlates what she wears depending on what shoes she is going to be wearing. To follow up and clarify her statement I paraphrased her statement, “So you say that its your shoes not your clothes or mood that determines what you’re fully wearing?” She thinks for a moment to rethink and replies “Definitely the mood…but I like the comfort to also look good”. Out of curiosity and wanting to explore my mom’s psyche, I delved deeper by reiterating and verifying some major points I caught: her outfit choice is influenced by four factors that are mood, her circumstances, the weather, and shoes. Of all those factors, I asked which took precedence to which she assuredly answered, “mood”. “And based on your mood would you say that you incorporate your style into your mood or vice versa, if you know what I mean?” She absorbed the question, and specified that she thinks her style affects her mood because seeing herself well-dressed elevates her well-being. She recognized that it was counterintuitive to what she claimed earlier. I smiled and affirmed that “Yeah. Fashion is a paradox.” This recurring theme of counterintuitive behavior can be attributed to how subject position interact with each other to sometimes create confusion and conflicting thoughts. 

By conducting this ethnographic research, I was able to gain a more thorough understanding of not only my mother’s dress practice but also how her behavior reflects her dispositions and past experiences. Alongside Svetlana’s outgoing qualities that are reflected in her dress practice is a darker history of poverty, diminutive freedom, and lack of self expression. This instilled a deepest desire to be experimental and daring in what she wears, though this mindfulness for keeping modesty (as a sign of being a respectable woman) still permeates her dress decisions. In many ways, this relates to my dress practice seeing as I believe a balance of risqué and traditional dress is enough to show an edgy and cool personality. Nonetheless, as a 19 year old New Yorker studying at Parsons School of Design, I am naturally positioned in a younger generation that is more acceptant of wild combinations of dress. On the other hand, my mother still has to deal with many people at her job that come from the same Soviet background, and ergo the same traditional mindset.

One distinction that Lana, or Svetlana, made was between ‘sexy’ and ‘skanky’ dress. She commented on how many people simply “don’t care” about how clothing fits onto them. 

Earlier in the interview, she even emphasized that it is important for her clothing to be well-fitting and body flattering. As someone who I would say has an elevated sense of fashion (comparable to Kris Jenner’s “sexy business attire”), she becomes insecure when randoms whistle at her on the street like a woman open for business. Svetlana noted that she would never wear something that is both revealing on top and bottom, and she always makes sure that everything fits every curve of her body— unlike the women she described at her work place and neighborhood who wear clothing that is too tight to even look at comfortably. This phenomenon relates to Joanne Entwistle’s comment from her book Real Bodies: A Sociological Introduction: “The fact that we do not normally develop epidermal self-awareness tells us a lot about our routine relationship to dress, that is that it forms a second skin which is not usually an object of consciousness.”^2 Lana was predisposed to having a heightened sense of her body due to always dressing “different” from others back in Russia (i.e. more Western). Despite Western fashion being an object of desire, people who didn’t have access to it were unable to develop it and thus developed resentment for people like my mother whose family members sent her American clothing. Upon coming to America, my mom finally felt like she “fit into” places like New York City and Park Slope. Meanwhile, many other Russian immigrants who moved to neighborhoods with a similar demographic (i.e. Brighton Beach and Sheepshead Bay) struggled to adopt Western fashion into their consciousness. I later explained that there are various interpretations of the word “skanky” by offering the opposing perspective and the formation of habitus for her consideration. Overall, I learned a great deal about how the body, mind, and spirit of a person all interact to formulate a unique perspective that then translates into how people adorn themselves. Fashion, like everything in this world, is multidimensional and has many vertical/horizontal layers which are all interdependent.

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Footnotes

^1  Susan B. Kaiser. Fashion and Cultural Studies (London: Berg, 2012). Pg 17

^2  Joanne Entwistle. Real Bodies: A Sociological Introduction (New York: Palgrave, 2002). Pg 133

Bibliography

Entwistle, Joanne. Real Bodies: A Sociological Introduction (New York: Palgrave, 2002).

Kaiser, Susan B. Fashion and Cultural Studies. London: Berg, 2012.