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isn't there an important difference between an imposed or adopted uniform, such as the hajib or the habit and the western pursuit of different clothing now encapsulated in the world of fashion?
To an extent there is but our culture has only just outgrown imposed clothing and certain parts of our culture still use clothes to differentiate themselves- schoolchildren, paramedics, the people who work at McDonalds. These things may be culturally imposed and necessary simply because of our society but that doesn't mean that they are any more escapable than our individual sexuality. Certainly in some ways I can deny my dyke half far more effectively than I can the roles that clothes demonstrate everyday.
hmm, what's important to keep in mind, i think, is the distinction between clothes, as opposed to fashion. i think people would be hard-pressed to say that clothes don't have political ramifications -- sorry, but until the day i see men wearing dresses and skirt suits in the office as freely as women, i think it's very difficult to ignore the politics of clothing (and their inextricable link to race, gender and sexuality). the very heated politics of clothing can include (i'm overgeneralizing cuz it's late and i'm tired): men in skirts, cornrows/ dreads/ dyed hair in the office, "ethnic" dress, "symbolic" clothing in school (whether it's armbands, offensive words...), "revealing" clothes in schools... people have been fired, shunned, sued over this stuff.
i think what sleazenation and others were getting at -- and correct me if i'm wrong -- is that the politics of "fashion," on the other hand, have more to do with mass culture, consumerism, branding, spectacle, etc. it's so tied up with money, mass production and the mass manufacturing of desire, that a discussion about fashion is very different from a discussion on clothing generally...
so, the fact that i can open up my "big dressing box" and choose between kitten heels and trainers one morning, isn't that big a deal... but the fact that, as a woman, my dressing box contains both skirt and pantsuits, while my boyfriend's dressing box doesn't, plus the fact that my office (like many other offices) has a dress code that definitely doesn't afford men the option of wearing skirt suits... well, that says a ton. |
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