Dress Codes

Meanings And Messages In American Culture

Ruth Rubinstein, Ruth Rubenstein

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9780813367958
• eBook ISBN: 9780429974915
• Topic: Ciencias sociales
• Subtopic: Sociología

Rich with illustrations, this revised and updated second edition of Dress Codes systematically analyzes the meaning and relevance of clothing in American culture. Presented here is an up-to-date analysis of images of power and authority, gender, seduction (the sexy look, the alluring look, the glamorous look, the vulnerable look), wealth and beauty, youth and health, and leisure and political hierarchy. Taken together, the chapters offer to the student and the general reader a complete "semiotics of clothing" in a form that is highly readable, very entertaining, and thoroughly informative. The illustrations provide fascinating glimpses into the history of American fashion and clothing-along with their antecedents in Europe-as well as a fine collection of images from the more familiar world of contemporary America.Rubinstein has identified six distinct categories of dress in American society, upon which Dress Codes is based. "Clothing signs" were instituted by those in authority, have one meaning, indicate behavior, and are required attire (police uniforms, or the clothing of ministers and priests); ?clothing symbols," on the other hand, reflect the achievement of cultural values?wealth, beauty, you and health. The wearing of clothing symbols?designer clothing or jewelry?may have several meanings; '`'clothing tie-signs,? which are specific types of clothing that indicate membership in a community outside mainstream culture (Hasidic, Amish, or Hare Krishna attire). They were instituted by those in authority, have one meaning, they indicate expected behavior, and are required attire; clothing tie symbols  emanate from hopes, fears, and dreams of particular groups. They include trendy styles such as hip-hop, hippie, and gothic. Another category, contemporary fashion, reflects consumer sentiments and the political and economic forces of the period. Personal dress, refers to the "I" component we bring in when dressing the public self (bowtie, dramatic, or artistic attire). Many of these images have their roots in the collective memory of western society. Written in a lively and entertaining style, Dress Codes will fascinate both general readers and students interested in the history of fashion and costume, fashion design, human development, and gender studies.

Part One:
Introduction

1
Dress in Societal Discourse

Most social scientists take it for granted that an individual's clothing expresses meaning. They accept the old saw that "a picture is worth a thousand words" and will generally concede that dress and ornament are elements in a communication system. They recognize that a person's attire can indicate either conformity or resistance to socially defined expectations for behavior. Yet few scholars have attempted to explain the meaning and relevance of clothing systematically. They often mistake it for fashion—the desired appearance of a particular period—whereas clothing refers to long-established patterns of dress. As a result, neither clothing images nor the rules that govern their use have been adequately identified or explicated. Writing on the changes that occurred in the early part of the nineteenth century in London and Paris, Richard Sennett (1977) points out that standardized modes of dress offered a protective "cover up" at a time when the distinction between private space and public space first emerged. When one lived and worked among strangers rather than among family members, there was a need to protect one's self and one's inner feelings. Wearing the expected mode of dress enabled individuals to move easily among the various spheres of social life. "Appearance was a cover for the real individual hiding within," observes Sennett. Clothing, as Sennett sees it, provides a buffer between the public and the private self.¹

For the American economist and social critic Thorstein Vehlen (1953), the desire to cover up a lower social origin underlay the consumption patterns in the United States. He claimed that in American society there is a general tendency to buy more expensive clothing than one should. This practice applies, as well, to groups and institutions, with the intent "to cover up the ignoble, selfish motives, and goals."²

In his article Fashion, Georg Simmel ( 1957) observed that fashion, the latest desired appearance, allows for personal modification, enabling the individual to pursue the competing desires for group identity and individual expression. There is no institution, "no law, no estate of life which can uniformly satisfy the opposing principles of uniformity and individuality better than fashion."³ The self is also an audience, and clothing allows individuals to view themselves as social objects. By extricating the self from a setting or situation, the individual can scrutinize the image he or she presents in view of the social response that is desired. This separation and objectification, in tarn, allows the individual to correct the image if necessary.⁴

In contrast to the social scientist, writers of fiction typically imbue a specific image of clothing with meaning. Nineteenth-century novelists such as Honoré de Balzac, Gustave Flaubert, Marcel Proust, Charles Dickens, and Anthony Trollope wrote detailed descriptions of what their characters wore. For example, when Flaubert describes Madame Bovary's initial appearance in the kitchen of her father's small farm, she wore a blue merino wool dress with three flounces. The clothing carried a message: she is fun-loving, frivolous, fashion-conscious, and out of place. Playwrights also use descriptions of garments as a means of delineating a character. Today, no newspaper reporter would write a profile of someone without describing the person's style of dress. The implication is that a person's style of dress somehow reflects his or her character.

Fashion historians usually discuss clothing in terms of style and the aesthetic tastes of a particular period or a particular group in society.⁵ They may identify the textiles and the skills used to create the garment but pay little attention to the clothing iconography, thereby losing sight of the clothing's social significance. Examining fascist propaganda, Laura Malavano in Fascismo epolitica Dell'immagine (1988) demonstrates the relationship between politics and patterns of dress, style and appearance. She analyzes the ways in which Benito Mussolini successfully utilized visual images to encourage Consensus among his followers, creating a "new organic whole" comprising people from all levels of society. To promote this ideal, he commissioned artistic representations that combined images from the classical art of the past with those from traditional folk art. In the art that resulted, men assumed various postures of victory as such postures were portrayed in ancient Roman times, yet they held familiar farm implements; they were thus seen as agricultural victors. It was this appeal to a pride in a shared past, made visible through synthetic images, that supported Mussolini's political program.⁶

Political figures, adolescents, and young adults have long recognized the significance of clothing. In his run for the governorship of Tennessee in 1978, Lamar Alexander conducted a grass-roots campaign. He walked across the state wearing a working man's attire—a red and black plaid Levi's shirt. He won the election. In his campaign for the Republican presidential nominations in 1996 and 1999, Alexander wore a similar shirt. Lack of support led him to withdraw from the primaries. His work shirt was seen as using style instead of substance to win the nomination. Self-interest was suspected. Lamar Alexander complained that his shirt acquired more recognition than he did.⁷

Vice president Al Gore, in his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, was also accused of using clothes to manipulate the public and to project the desirable image of an aggressive personality type.⁸ The vice president explained to reporter Maureen Dowd that his clothes identify who he is. From his father he assimilated his somewhat formal style, the three-piece suit he wore as a congressman and as a senator. As with most married men in the United States, his wife Tipper picked his casual clothes and she chose what he wore on the campaign trail—a blue shirt to bring out his eyes, heathery brown sweater, khakis, and black cowboy boots.⁹

To signal connectedness and to distinguish themselves from others, groups of young people adopt styles of dress to express their particular, distinct identity In making these choices, they demonstrate their awareness that a style or mode of appearance has meaning.¹⁰

The Notion of Public Memory

Visual images from the past and present form what French sociologist Maurice Halbwachs calls the collective memory. They are a part of core culture, like time and space, and give shape to a child's orientation to social realities. Ideas, beliefs, and values—that is, the basic constructs of collective life—are embodied in images. They contain the central system of rules of behavior and thought that controls much of what we do. The growing child is bombarded by these images and their shared public meaning. As Halbwachs explained, learning begins early in life in a most informal way, but full understanding requires both biological maturity and social experience.¹¹

An experiment conducted at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 1988 provides further evidence that information builds up in the brain bit by bit but quickly. The experiment consisted of measuring the amount of time it took the brain to name and categorize images of everyday objects.¹² The researchers found that it took about four-tenths of a second to comprehend pictures of familiar objects and up to three-quarters of a second for less familiar ones.¹³

Public memory includes depictions of people in carvings, in sculpture, in paintings, mosaics, stained glass windows, and in prints and drawings in books. These images are concrete, tangible representations of "currents of collective thought" from the various historical periods. The clothing in these visual portrayals has been so closely associated with ideas that the clothing itself is seen as embodying them.¹⁴

Prior to the nineteenth century, the majority of the people thus represented in Western European art were figures of political power, religious authority, or both. Their dependents—wives, mistresses, children, or servants—might also appear. As might be expected, their clothing and accessories came to be seen as a physical manifestation of the ideas, the institutions, and the power held by these people. In a given society at a given time, therefore, the clothing worn by individuals in authority has automatically provided information about their position and power in society.

Because many of these works of art have survived, they now form a part of the cumulative public memory For example, the crowning of a new monarch often

Public memory. Seventeenth-century Protestant Holland was a middle-class society whose ideals were harmony and self-restraint. Its population had fought against monarchy and had chosen self-government. The people were expected to live a neat, orderly life. "The Linen Cupboard," by Pieter de Hooch, 1663, illustrates the ideals of cleanliness, neatness, and harmony. (By permission. Collection of the Rijksmuseam, Amsterdam. )

set off a round of new paintings depicting the new court. These visual images would be added to those of the previous monarchy. In some cases the new ruler continued and elaborated on past traditions. In other instances new leaders attempted to distinguish themselves by espousing new ideas and values, which led to new styles of painting and dress. However, these would not wholly replace the old and would eventually be added to the ex...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Tables and Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Part 1: Introduction
• Part 2: Characteristics of Modern Social Discourse
• Part 3: Clothing Signs and Social Imperatives
• Part 4: Clothing Symbols and Cultural Values
• Part 5: Publicspeak
• Bibliography
• Index