Roland Barthes’s the Fashion System is criticized by Schier “there is certainly something to the idea that we say things with what we choose to wear, though we must not press too hard to find a set of rules conceded in every choice.” [Davis, 1992, Page 6]
Jean Paul Gaultier finds a symbolic tension, which highlights the desire to emulate the clothing, and associated gender paraphernalia. He is often described as Frencher than French, the enfant terrible of French couture. This essay will expose reactions of ridicule and intolerance exceptional technique and ability to never confine to the norm, the ways he has shaped and challenged the conventional idea of fashion. The modes of male self-presentation will be shown with the consideration of each fashion collection. “Clothes don’t have a gender except those of function.” Discussion will investigate male self-presentation, Gaultier ability to tread the line between gender identity and cross-dressing, between provocation and originality. Fashion is full of outdated clichés, which no longer fit with the times.
In the animal kingdom the male is usually more colorful and flamboyant, he overshadows the female, which presumably makes him more attractive to potential mates. The Macaroni’s, the precursor to the dandy challenging gender identity they were the first metrosexuals of their day. They were every bit as embellished and outrageous as the women, if not more. In the 1970s the peacock revolution began. Men were open to bright colours, patterned apparel and fabrics, which hung loosely from the body.
Naomi R Wolf argues that society projects pressure onto women to conform to the stubborn reality of the image of femininity. Wolf, the author of best selling book The Beauty Myth,...
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...ction remarked, “Garments don’t have gender. Express yourself!” “Your image is a game, be fluid and free!” “Be yourself!” “You have a number of faces, just like a Picasso.”
Jean Paul Gaultier’s style is constantly evolving. He continues to be excited about the changes in society and the arts. His curiosity and need to absorb information fuels his creativity. He constantly takes qualities ascribed to a particular gender and mixes them up. Even after all these years Gaultier still manages to shock people though his creativity and ability to ignore stereotypes. “He knows how to surprise people, how to reinvent himself, how to innovate.” Martin Margiela [Page 103] Gaultier has left a last impression in the minds of humanity. “I believe that his playing with the concepts of gender and sexuality will be regarded as one of the key aspects of his career,” Valerie Steele
The author explains that men have the freedom to wear what they want without much meaning being read from their clothes, but for a woman every style has a meaning. In the article Deborah Tannen says “There is no woman's hair style that can be called standard, that says nothing about her” further supporting her point. The author uses the different clothing styles of three ladies in her conference meeting as examples when she tries to attribute them? to their respective personalities. However, she noticed that the men were all dressed alike because they had the freedom to. In my opinion, the author’s evaluation is restricted. Tannen did not consider the formal setting of her case study so to say.In such settings, men are often restricted to corporate outfits and a plain haircut just like the ones she observed in her male colleagues in the article (page #) . For instance, it is inappropriate for a man to go job hunting or for an interview in a pair of shorts and plain T shirt, but in a casual place like a bar he has more freedom in his choice of outfits. This example shows that men are only unmarked in certain situations and settings.
Starting out with Bonheur she was a 19th century artist who broke many taboos that involve wearing pants, living her life with two women, Nathalie Micas and Anna Klumpke, and let a woman own her possessions (Lampel, 4). Dressing like a man gave her the opportunity to work in slaughterhouses where she was able to go up close towards animals, and that is where she specialized in painting animals (Lampel, 4). She stated that she is a proud woman, following her father’s comment that “the woman’s mission is to improve the human race” (Klumpke, 1997, p. 206). And that certainly supports the author’s argument that women wear pants to exert strength and power that Bonheur dares to be different so she can show that she is able to live the life she wants to live and be happy for who she
Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth. How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women. New York: William Morrow, 1991.
Givenchy’s love for fashion grew when at the age of ten he attended the Pavillon d’ Elegance Paris Exposition. Once looking through Vogue magazine, he was inspired by Balenciaga men’s wear. He wanted to be a couturier and attended Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, to start a formal education in fashion. His designing inspirations came from Elsa Schiaparelli and Madam Gres’s work. His experience also came from working at the House of Piguet in Paris; this salon was known for its dramatic yet simple style and after, at the House of Lelong that was known for their high quality clothing. Those positions gave him knowledge on how to work with couture customers and gave him an opportunity to build strong relationships with them (Press, 2002).
Naomi Wolf's "The Beauty Myth," discusses the impact of our male-dominated society upon women. Wolf argues that women's most significant problems associated with societal pressures are a "fairly recent invention," dating back to the 1970s (6). She explains that women have "breached the power structure" by acquiring rights equal to men in areas such as, education, professional careers, and voting. As a result, Wolf suggests that the "beauty myth" is the "last one remaining of the old feminine ideologies that still has the power to control those women" (3). Considering that the beauty myth is women's last battle, the struggle is increasingly more difficult. Wolf claims that women are currently experiencing "a violent backlash against feminism," noting the recent rise in eating disorders, cosmetic surgery, and objectification of women's bodies (3,2). While Wolf accurately defines the beauty myth, she incorrectly states that eating disorders, cosmetic surgery, and pornography are recent issues, resulting from an intentional "backlash" against women's rights.
Wolf, Naomi, Ed. The beauty myth: How images of beauty are used against women. Random House, 1991.Web. 28 March. 2014.
Paul Poiret, the dreamer fashion designer, created a colorful, dreamful costume in the history of fashion. He freed the traditional form of women’s dress— the Victorian style dress that can eventually kill women by bounding up the chest and waist; He created a new form of women clothes. Two significant forms that he designed is the harlem pants and hobble skirt. The color choice that Poiret used on his design was basically influenced by the early 20th century artist of the cubism, fauvism or impressionism. Thus, his designs tended to be in great colors, geometry forms and special shapes. Also, Poiret was influenced by oriental art and cultural, so that’s why he created a new sense in fashion world, that is to combine the eastern culture, and
London Fashion Week which is viewed as an essential event on the British calendar successfully examines Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus, capital and fields within the field of fashion. There are various rules and limitation which are set for those entering the boundaries of the fashion show and only key people who are m...
Peacock, John. The Chronicle of Western Fashion: From Ancient times to the Present Day. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1991. Print.
Dior ran into a childhood friend, Marcel Boussac who was a textile manufacturer in Saint Florentin. Boussac was behind the startup of an old couture house that was let go during the years of the war. He was looking for a “man in a million” to be a top designer for his house. Though Dior did not think of himself on their first encounter he ran into Marcel Boussac once again, this time he was beginning to ponder what his future success could and should be. The third encounter with Boussac was the moment that Christian Dior finally took a chance on his dream of becoming a courtier.
Paul Poiret was born on April 20th, 1879 in Paris, France. His contributions to twentieth-century fashion has earned him the title in many people’s eyes as the “King of Fashion”, because he established the principle of modern dress and created the blueprint of the modern fashion industry. Poiret’s designs and ideas led the direction of modern design history. He was born into a working class family and his natural charisma eventually gained him entry into some of the most exclusive ateliers of the Belle Époque. Jacques Doucet, one of the capital’s most prominent couturiers, hired him after seeing promising sketches he had sold to other dressmakers. Furthermore, he was hired by the House of Worth and was put to work to create less glamorous and more practical, simple items because his out of the ordinary designs were not welcomed in open arms by opulent clientele. Despite this experience he was still confident in his ideas and ventured out on his own with money barrowed from his parents and opened a storefront. Moreover, he wanted to promote of the concept of a "total lifestyle” was seen as the first couturier to merge fashion with interior design. His independent work broke the normal conventions of dressmaking, and overturned their underlying presumptions. He liberated the woman’s body from the petticoat and the corset to allow clothing to follow woman’s natural form. Poiret also radically revolutionized dressmaking to switch from the emphasis surrounding the skills of tailoring towards those based on the skills of draping and began to use bright colors. Furthermore, Poiret was apart of the art deco movement, which was surrounded by a period of immense social upheaval, particularly for women, and emergence of technol...
Stent, S., 2011, ‘Fetishizing the Feminine: the Surreal Fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli’, Nottingham French Studies, September, 50, 78-87.
In the early 1800s, France was the sole fashion capital of the world; everyone who was anyone looked towards Paris for inspiration (DeJean, 35). French fashion authority was not disputed until the late twentieth century when Italy emerged as a major fashion hub (DeJean, 80). During the nineteenth century, mass produced clothing was beginning to be marketed and the appearance of department stores was on the rise (Stearns, 211). High fashion looks were being adapted and sold into “midlevel stores” so that the greater public could have what was once only available to the social elite (DeJean, 38). People were obsessed with expensive fashions; wealthy parents were advised not the let their children run around in expensive clothing. People would wait for children dressed in expensive clothing to walk by and then they would kidnap them and steal their clothes to sell for money (DeJean, 39). Accessories were another obsession of France‘s fashion; they felt no outfit was complete without something like jewelry or a shrug to finish off the look and make it all around polished (DeJean, 61). As designers put lines together, marketing began to become important to fashion in the nineteenth century; fashion plates came into use as a way to show off fashion l...
Fashion takes on many different facets and concerns many subsets— a model sashaying down the runway in a gown encrusted in real gems, Lady Gaga’s infamous dress made of cuts of raw beef, a teenage girl obsessing over the season’s latest styles— it is all an expression of our minds and who we are or want to be, made tangible. It is a medium just like any other, for while artists wield brushes and paints, designers use thread and cloth to illustrate their vision. The artistry is none more so apparent than in the exclusive world of haute couture, a world of extravagance that caters to aesthetics, producing one-of-a-kind wearable masterpieces that are made to be admired rather than worn. It is without doubt, high fashion and its design is an art.
Yves Saint Laurent is indisputably one of the grand masters of fashion, a true couturier, a pioneer and a rebel. He created more than beautiful, articulated and fine garments; he reinvented the ‘woman’ as an archetype in fashion, he incorporated art in his design in a way that is vague if he was a designer or an artist in heart. He dedicated his whole life to the pursuit of the absolute inspiration, of true beauty and breaking the rules. Throughout his life, Yves Saint Laurent, was torn between the West and the East, prudence and recklessness, conservatism and innovation, but he was never unprogressive. His designs portray this conflict and perhaps this is what gives them an air of mystery, of unprecedented elegance and grit. As Duras says, “Yves Saint Laurent invents a reality and adds it to the other, the one he has not made. And he fuses all of this paradoxical harmony-often revolutionary, always dazzling.” His legacy is beyond of being a designer, a couturier; he is a reformer, a passionate rebel, whose progressive views expanded beyond making beautiful garments for people with expensive taste and status; beyond couture.