Simon Says Wear That!: 2011

Today I was dressed like an over exaggerated cow girl that Hollywood has stereotyped. Real cow-girls don’t walk around like how I did today. I got told I look like the cow-girl from Toy Story and some even thought I was from Coyote Ugly.

Different people will have their own ideas and conclusion to what you look like and ‘who you are’. The phrase ‘judging a book by its cover’ sums it up.

“Getting dressed involves different levels of consciousness in terms of how one thinks about the body and how to present it.

We are sometimes aware of our bodies as objects to be looked at, if entering particular social spaces, while at other times and in other spaces, such as at home, we do not tune into our bodies as objects to be looked at. This tuning as an object when in public spaces is similar to Goffman’s notion of ‘front stage’ (1971): In public spaces we may feel ourselves to be on view, while when alone at home we are ‘back stage’. In certain circumstances one might also be made self-conscious of appearance and dress, if say, dressed inappropriately.” (Entwistle, 2000; 31)

Tuesday 22 March 2011

Pass the salt.

“Men act and woman appear” (John Berger)

“Feminists have argued that the female body is viewed as an object of the male gaze (Mulvey, 1975) and is looked at by men in different and mundane everyday contexts.” (Howson, 2004; 104)

The ‘beauty myth’, as the institutionalization of the male gaze, has consequences for women. First, the constant monitoring (examining oneself in the mirror, checking oneself in passing windows) and repairing (Revlon’s one – minute nail varnish!) required by the pursuit of beauty diverts women’s energy and saps their confidence. Though woman are told by L’Oreal ‘you’re worth it!’, this promotes a changing room culture in which woman are constantly measuring their self-worth in terms of how they compare to other women. Second, the pursuit of beauty becomes a currency for woman and increases competition between them (think of all those conversations in woman’s toilets that focus on ‘her’ – the woman ‘outside’ dress/make-up/hair). Moreover, visual appearances that conform to ideals and norms of beauty provide access to public life, and woman seen to avoid or fail to achieve beauty standards experience overt and covert forms of discrimination. Third the current emphasis on beauty is a form of backlash against woman’s economic and political gains in the post-war prison. As women are seen to enter into public life, the beauty myth intensifies to the point that women in public life also need to embody beauty norms.” (Howson, 2004; 105)

Monday 21 March 2011

All things Bright and Beautiful!

Society contracts our fashion. What to wear, how to wear it. What goes with what? The ‘Do’s and Don’ts’ of everyday wear. Which accessories go best?

Today I decided to wear something that was ‘out-there’ with regards to bright colours and a touch of kitsch. Big bright pick Hawaii looking pants are the No No’s in societies Do’s and Don’ts. I’m sure people could see me from a mile away and they were probably thinking, what on earth is she wearing?

“There is a moral order to the social, ‘correct’ and ‘incorrect’ ways of appearing (and dressing)… To be a ‘good’ person requires conformity to this moral order: when dressing, we have to orientate ourselves to different spaces which impose particular sorts of rules on how to present ourselves. When we fail to conform we risk censure or disapproval.” (Entwistle, 2000; 33)

Pale is the new Tan!

“It is the individual woman who feels herself to be at fault for not matching up to the current imagery. It is not that the image is discordant. Her sightline has become faulty. She is now energised to make the new images her own signature and to express herself through these new forms. She apples herself to the job of perfecting that image for herself and so makes it her own, not assaultive or alien.” (Orbach, 2010; 29)

An alien, yes, that was exactly how I felt when I was walking through Gateway without my leggings for the first time. I felt ashamed and embarrassed. I was so uncomfortable because I felt that my ‘white glow’ was standing out and that everyone was judging me. I felt like hiding under a huge carpet.

The sad thing is that I spent years worrying what ‘society’ thinks of me and the truth is that ‘they’ actually don’t care. I realised that people are all in the same boat. ‘They’ are all warring about themselves and how they look. No one rally is concerned on how white I am. I eventually started to enjoy the freedom of not wearing leggings and embraced who I was, not caring that society makes out that tan skin is better than pale. I hope that this will teach me to never judge others for how they look or what they wear.

Saturday 19 March 2011

Nooo! Give me back my leggings!

I have pale skin and I feel unattractive because I do not have the beautiful tanned skin that society highlights.

“History has demonstrated many dangerous beauty fads, including tanning, which have evolved into a false concept of beauty.” (Salpietro, 1995)

“Skin too light? There are creams or sunbeds to darken it. .” (Orbach, 2010; 82)

I have heard a phase that says, ‘We want to be the perfect Ken and Barbie, but Ken and Barbie just want to be real!’

As we have been looking into what society calls the norm and all we do is, follow what ‘Simon Says’. We see how we strive to become something artificial and we begin to neglect the real self.

“Cheekbones, teeth, nose lips, wrinkles, lines, breasts, pecs, legs, bums chins feet, labias, stomachs, midriffs, hairlines, ears, necks, skin coloration, body hair become putty in the hands of the cosmetic surgeons, dentists and dermatologist, who resculpt and transform the body into its alter ego so that the end product recasts standards of what is a normal sort of beauty for all of us.” (Orbach, 2010; 81)

Will society ever encourage us to embrace our god given self? Or will we always be striving for the fads of what ‘Simon Says’ (society’s norm)?

Friday 18 March 2011

Your style has past the sell-by-date!

Keeping up with the joneses is a tough call.

It seems if you are not wearing the ‘latest’ or the ‘in thing’ you not ‘with it’.

Today was very interesting in a sense that only much older people appreciated m dress sense. The younger generation laughed at me and someone even said I look ridiculous. I also was told that I look like Merry Poppins or some very old lady. What if this was how I really dressed? What if this was not a project…

It shows how society has placed everything into boxes. Including people, telling us what to wear and how to look with an age tag attached to it.

“Dress forms part of the micro-social spaces and when we dress we have to orientate ourselves to the implicit norms of these spaces: is there a code of dress we have to abide by? Who are we likely to meet? What activities are we likely to perform? How visible do we want to be? (Do we want to stand out in the crowd or blend in?) and so on. We may not always be aware of all these issues consciously; indeed only some circumstances, such as formal situations, demand a high degree of body/dress consciousness. However, even when not attending to these issues consciously, we internalize particular rules or norms of dress which we routinely employ unconsciously.” (Entwistle, 2000; 34)

Can I wear my wings today?

Why can’t we wear exactly what we feel like wearing?

Why is it so wrong to come to work in shorts instead of the ‘normal’ formal suit on a very hot day?

Why is it only ok for little girls to walk around in tutu’s or fairy wings?

“Dress is the way in which individuals learn to live in their bodies and feel at home in them. Wearing the right clothes and looking our best, we feel at ease with our bodies, and the opposite is equally true: turning up for a situation inappropriately dressed, we feel awkward, out of place and vulnerable. In this respect, dress is both an intimate experience of place and vulnerable. In this respect, dress is both an intimate experience of the body and a public presentation of it.” (Entwistle,2000;7)

Today I decided to dress up like a fairy. I was really physically uncomfortable. I was not taken seriously and people took me as a joke. This was only because I was dressed like a “childish” young girl…

“Dress is part of the presentation of self; ideas of embarrassment and stigma play an important part in the experience of dress in everyday life and can be applied to discuss the ways in which dress has to ‘manage’ these as well as the way dress may sometimes be the source of our shame. However, the ridicule is not simply that of personal faux pas, but the shame of failing to meet the standards required of one by the moral order of the social space.” (Entwistle,2000;35)

Wednesday 16 March 2011

Jy Dink Jy's Cooler As Ekke!

Does someone wearing a suit deserve more respect then someone who isn’t for example, a car-guard?

Should one in a suit be taken more seriously then one who isn’t?

“Social status can be understood as the degree of honour or prestige attached to one’s position in society”. (Maiese, 2004)

Today I was dressed like a homeless car-guard and I felt as if people looked at me with disgust. Most people that I had encountered told me that I need to have a bath. I felt dirty and I too could not wait to have a bath. Due to the way people were looking at me I felt like I was part of the so called ‘low’ social class.

Should one get less respect because of the way one is dressed or because of what job they have?

I felt less respected today clearly because of the way I looked and the job I was representing.

“Occupying a high status due to a characteristic that one possesses means that on the basis of that difference, an individual acquires more power and privilege. That person’s opinions, ways of thinking, values, needs, and feelings are thought to have more value. There is a heightened sense of an entitlement to societies resources, including health care, education, and attractive employment. Often these benefits are derived simply from having a particular skin colour, being of a particular gender, being dressed in a particular way, or having a particular profession or degree. “(Maiese, 2004)

Tuesday 15 March 2011

Dress Really Matters!

Should one be treated differently because of the clothes they wear? Does what we wear really matter?

Today I was dressed up like I am going to a 90’s pop party. In the morning I went to a mall and a guy I know walked passed but he could hardly greet me which is not like him. Was I ignored because of what I was wearing? Was it because I was not dressed ‘normally’?

On the other hand I got far more attention than I do when I am ‘normally’ dressed. I was whistled at and complimented too. I got smiled at and men were shouting comments out their window while driving past.

Entwistle points out how we become so constructed to time and fashion in society.

“The everyday practice of getting dressed involves conscious awareness of time because to engage with experience of dress (in the west at least) one cannot usually avoid the temporal constraints of fashion. The experience of fashion imposes an external sense of time: fashion changes, indeed fashion is by definition temporal. Time is socially contracted by the fashion system through the circle of collections, shows and seasons which serve to halt the flow of ‘now’ by means of projections into the future. Fashion orders the experience of self and the body in time, and this ordering of time must be accounted for in the consideration of subjective modes of attending to one’s body through clothing and style. (Entwistle, 2000; 32)

Are we constructed to what society tells us to wear?

Or do we embrace our individuality?

Does fashion shape who we are?

Monday 14 March 2011

Old School is Cool!

In this blog 'Simon says wear that!' we will be addressing what society calls the norm. Generally speaking no one dares to go against the norm - it will be looked down upon and one will feel abnormal.

Today I decided to step back into the 80's and go against the 'normal dress code' for this day and age. I got a few heads turning and was laughed at. I don't blame them. My bright, shiny pink blouse with huge shoulder pads and purple heals is not considered the ‘norm’ in society in this day.

“One only has to think of the discomfort which is commonly felt when looking at old photographs of oneself in clothes which are no longer fashionable to see how fashion imposes a sense of time onto the experience of the adorned self. This moment of reflection on the presentation of self is moment when the internal duree, the internal flow of time, is halted or disrupted and the self as experienced in the ‘now’ has to reflect upon the ‘old’ presented self. In this way, then, a sociology of dress and the practices of the fashion industry could use these phenomenological terms to look at how the experience of attending to and expressing the body is socially and temporally constituted.” (Entwistle,2000;32)