Parkins, I. (2008). Building a feminist theory of fashion: Karen Barad’s agential realism. Australian Feminist Studies, 23, 501-515.
Agential realism: yes, it's a bit intimidating. But it's worth the effort. Hopefully I am not butchering the intended message.
Parkins examines the relationship between garment and wearer, and where the power in that relationship lies. She speaks of this relationship as dynamic: clothing can translate a wearer’s meaning, and women make negotiations with garments. What will I look like in this? What will it say about me? Parkins reminds us that fashion choices, while dependent on the individual, also possess socially situated meaning. In other words, a garment has a life and meaning of its own.
Parkins examines the relationship between garment and wearer, and where the power in that relationship lies. She speaks of this relationship as dynamic: clothing can translate a wearer’s meaning, and women make negotiations with garments. What will I look like in this? What will it say about me? Parkins reminds us that fashion choices, while dependent on the individual, also possess socially situated meaning. In other words, a garment has a life and meaning of its own.
Parkins also presents fashion as an industry. As an industry, it is constantly outdating itself in order to generate profit. While women decide what meaning their clothing has to them and conveys for them, they also wear meaning imparted by the industry. If negotiated well, fashion can be a bridge between culture and feminism, if one can exist in the tensions and ambiguities.
Parkins’ article is relevant because she positions fashion as both an industry and a medium of personal expression. She uses feminism to connect culture and feminism and recognize that there is a way for the two to communicate. Parkins’ article made intriguing points about the strength of women’s connections to fashion. She advises feminists that if is necessary to recognize the strongholds of fashion in women’s lives, and to use their position to help women discern which attachments are useful and which are harmful.
Ah, the fine line. Is it just me or do these things exist everywhere? Fine lines that require negotiation and frequently blur. I thought there were far fewer of them when I was younger. :) I guess that's a good thing.
ReplyDeleteI also think it is valuable to be reminded that fashion is an industry. A profit driven industry. I heard an interview with a label director talking about the decision to us an "in" color in a line. If you do it, are you selling out? If you don't, do you risk becoming irrelevant? Without new trends, there aren't always new profits. I guess this is where self-confidence in your own look becomes important.
ReplyDeleteThe older I get, the more convinced I am that there is benefit to learning to live in the "tensions and ambiguities."
ReplyDeleteThis article raises interesting questions: What meaning does a garment have to a woman who is disabled? Or not the "right" body type? A woman who can barely feed her kids and pay her rent and wears a 7 year old coat - what meaning does she take on from the garment in the store window she wishes she could have but can't afford?
Tensions and ambiguities....
I wonder if those tensions are lessened by the ability for women to listen to their own hearts in all regards. If I love a horrid purple sweater and my connection is that my mother wore it when she was my age, is it an easier choice vs. the choice to follow the industry, standard or trend? Is it then also lessened by our need to be warm and comfortable when we have little money, time or concern left for the luxuries of style? Or is it made tighter by our wants to keep up with the Mrs. Jones'. Hmmm, I don't think I like physics but I do love fashion as a form of expression. But you already knew that. :)
ReplyDeleteYou know how in Greek there are at least three different words to describe what we lump in the one word "love"? Fashion in our discussion already could mean "the industry" or "specific garments and our relationship with them." Or "our personal style." In a class we just had a discussion about how umbrella terms hide the ambiguities of the layers underneath.
ReplyDeleteWomen listening to their hearts is key, I think. I read an article that did not impress me enough to do a summary here, but the author did raise the point that young women might be in an especially vulnerable position concerning "the industry" because they have not learned how to listen to their hearts yet. They still think their personal style, and as Fawcett (2006)) said in "Fashioning the Second Wave: Issues Across Generations" their value, lies in something they can buy - an image they try to imitate. My question - is this a rite of passage of American girlhood, something that must be experienced on the way to an adjusted adulthood?
Really, I am not interested in living in a world where we all wear the same uniform all the time. I like expressing myself through clothing as well. I'm honestly pretty comfortable with wardrobe and its surrounding philosophies,but I have a daughter just beginning her struggle with all of this. Another mom and I were just discussing how to decipher the phrase "everybody else is..." Does that mean every other single middle schooler or just two who made fun of you or a critical majority or you just want this so bad you're trying to spread the guilt on thick?
I've gone on too long. Can you tell I love when you bring up such interesting points of discussion, ladies?!