HOLLY HAINSWORTH [N0630460] TUTOR: ANNA PIPER Module:DCCT10001DESIGN, CULTURE & CONTEXT 2015/2016 BA (HONS) FASHION DESIGN
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CONTENTS Introduction Page 4-5 The Loss of Authenticity Page 6-9 The Fight of Representation Page 10-15 Industry Example Page 16-19 In Relation to my own Practice Page 20-21 Our Ideal Identities Page 22-27 Conclusion Page 28-29 List of Illustrations Page 30 List of Citations Page 30 Bibliography Page 31 3
INTRO DUCTION Have you ever stood looking in a mirror, asking yourself is this me? Quick question, what is me? What are you wanting to be? It is all a choice, a choice that we can change by what we wear. The thought of being different and the idea of standing out from the crowd has always been something that the fashion industry and we, as people have strived for.
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There is something about authenticity that everyone wants, perhaps relating back to the loss of authenticity in the modern era through the creation of mass production. But the question is why do we, as individuals, manufacture ourselves to fit in, the paradox of authenticity and imitation, the blurring of the boundaries to what is real and what is not? Clothing tells us a lot about a person but why? Clothing and fashion shouldn’t define our personalities, our identity, yet it does. I want to explore the ideas surrounding our identities through our clothing focusing on the desperate need to be different through being authentic. Whilst also looking at the thought of representation, we all purposely chose certain aspects to represent ourselves, we all have an ideal identity which is the reasoning to the way we choose to dress.
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THE LOSS OF AUTHEN TICITY We find that the need and the purpose of what we wear today, is what determines who we want to be. What we want people to interpret about ourselves. Purposely creating an identity for ourselves that others can interpret from the outside. The idea of wanting to create an individual identity is an odd phenomenon, one that in essence criticizes each other, surrounding the idea of Paradox. “Perhaps it is impossible to wear an identity without becoming what you pretend to be� (Card, 2013: online).
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In other words, We all want to be something that we are not, looking at others for inspiration because that is the person we admire to be, whether that is through the way we dress or stylize ourselves. We have this idea that we want to be different and stand out from the crowd but by copying that one style, we again lose the idea of authenticity. “We perform our wanted identities by the way we dress up� (Smelik. A, 2015: online).
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Fig.1. Cassettes Gang (2008) by Ari Versluis 2008:online
Fig.3. Meuf - Evry (2009) by Ari Versluis 2009:online
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Fig.2. Hipsters (2008) by Ari Versluis 2008:online
Fig.4. Veggies (2012) by Ari Versluis 2012:online
Contrastingly building on the point of the loss of authenticity, looking at ‘Exactitudes’ series of photographs (Fig. 1-4.), we see that although we all try to dress differently, we all have the same perceptions and ideas, essentially leaving us to imitational identities, losing the authentic aesthetic. Focusing on Fig.2., Hipsters, Hipsters are known to want to be different, they’re supposed to stand out and be a bit edgy, but when observing this photograph, We start to notice that all hipsters are identical in their clothing so they’re not actually standing for what they truly want to stand for, bringing forward again the idea of striving for our own individual identities and the idea surrounding authenticity.
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Fig.5. Your Body Is A Battleground (1989) by Barbara Kruger 2003: online
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THE FIGHT OF REPRESEN TATION The fight of representation is how
ferent to what is actually occurring
we want others to see ourselves,
on the inside, an x-ray portrayal
which is what drives us to specif-
seen in the image.
ically dress in a certain way. In
We consciously make fashion
essence, our bodies are like ‘bat-
choices knowing people will judge
tlegrounds’, we fight ourselves to
and make interpretations from the
represent something that we real-
outside. Shallow but true! The ide-
ly are not, interpreted in Figure.5.,
ology of individualism has been
observing contrasting features of
one of the key driving forces of
the same identity. In other words,
today’s fashion industry.
what you see on the outside is dif-
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‘Blurring the boundaries’ of what is real and what is not. I feel that this can be encapsulated in this Barbara Kruger poster (Fig.6.), creating the connotation of the ideology of being fake, ‘You are not yourself’ bringing forward the post-modern conception of commodity fetishism. A mirror will normally reflect yourself in appearance but in this image (Fig. 6.) the mirror is smashed up, it is not reflecting your normal self, the sense that it is hiding something – representing something fake. The female character’s reflection informs a negative emotion occurring, bringing forward the connotation, that we dress to fit in but still want to be different. But does that actually make us happy with ourselves? Or is the longing of wanting to be different coming a reality, that being different is no longer being authentic.
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Fig.6. You Are Not Yourself (1984) by Barbara Kruger 2003: online
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‘Gilles Lipovetsky, a French fashion sociologist, claims that “in modern age, fashion has blended elements of individualism and conformity”, whilst French philosopher of the postmodern society, Jean Baudrillard says “when the real is no longer what it used be, nostalgia assumes its full meaning.”’ (Smelik. A, 2015: online).
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Lipovetsky’s idea of blended elements, agrees with the view that the longing of individualism is a result of the modernist era. The longing of wanting to be something we are not, essentially brings in ideas and conformities of the past. In meaning that the idea surrounding nostalgia is again, a result of the modern conception of mass production and mass media which has lead everything to become imitative, making everything more accessible, which personally I feel is why people today strive for authenticity. We essentially lost the feeling of what was real and authentic to what was not, everything was duplicated and easily accessible.
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INDU STRY EXAM PLE From the longing of wanting to be different, we start to notice people dress in a certain way, using clothing items differently, in comparison than what their original purpose used to be. An industry example of this, is the sportswear industry. We all wear some sort of sportswear item every single day, whether it is a pair of trainers or a sweatshirt or even a hoody. We all wear them but my argument is why? We have gradually blurred the boundaries
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between fashion and sport through our clothing. The majority of the time, we are not going to participate in any sporting activity, we choose to wear them due to comfort or is it? In my opinion I feel that some of us wear sportswear products to fit in but to create our own individual look, “the way in which sportswear is worn when it is not on the sporting body is a key accessory to the individuality of the consumer” (V&A, 2008:81),
‘Authenticity has become the holy grail of today’s fashion in the industry as a whole as well as our own style desires; and like the holy grail, it is always strived for, but never to be found’ (Smelik. A, 2015: online).
creating our own identity, linking again to the idea surrounding authenticity and imitation. We want to give people the interpretation of our identities to perhaps be sporty and athletic as well as the desire to be different.
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Fig.7. Sportswear Market Pie Chart (2005) edited by Roshan Shishoo 2005:38
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As when individualism is created there is always duplicates produced, similarly to the rise of mass production which lead to the loss of authenticity to an extent, which as a result, people are striving for now. Statistical evidence (Fig. 7.) has shown through research that only 25% of people that purchase sportswear products and garments actually use it for sports use, the rest (75%) use it for ‘Non-sports use’ i.e. Fashion purposes. Today’s sportswear lacks the idea of functionality; it is the conformity of a fashion image, again the production of that identity. The idea that “the look became more important than the function...” (R.Shishoo, 2005:51), brings forward the modern conception of ‘form over function’. People want to be different but the contrasting elements of fashion and sport have much rather become a trend, one that everyone is ‘jumping on the bandwagon’.
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IN RELATION TO MY OWN PRACTICE
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Relating to my own practice, of
sonality, what they like is all through
which I have been focusing on
observing their appearance. We
designing for one of the most pop-
don’t look at their sporting bodies or
ular sporting brands, Nike of whom
their interests, we directly observe
have collaborated with an innova-
their type of style. Someone wear-
tive high end fashion label, Sacai.
ing sportswear garments does not
We see the relationship between
tell us they are going to participate
fashion and sport appear again.
in sporting activities, meaning that
The point I am trying to make here,
anyone can choose what to wear
is that when researching and look-
purposely and from that we judge
ing into their target audience, we
and interpret an identity of that per-
look at the outside image, what do
son, whether it is right or wrong. It is
they wear? Not on functionality.
all purposely manufactured.
The identity that their consumers communicate to us about their per-
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OUR IDEAL IDENTITIES In the endless quest to indicate our ideal personalities through our clothing brings about certain questions, what are we purposely wanting to portray about ourselves? And what effect is this having on ourselves as well as the fashion industry? These questions can be answered, whether it is a conscious or subconscious decision we make when choosing what to wear. In my opinion, we all purposely dress in a way that we want others to see ourselves as.
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Fig.8. The Schoolgirls Project (2000) by Nikki S Lee 2000:online
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Clothing tells us a lot about a person
It proves an identity to someone
but also can create misrepresentation
on the outside. A clear example of
of a person as well. We can work it to
this is, photographer Nikki S Lee (Fig.
our advantage. This is an occurrence
8,9,10) bringing forward the idea of
that began well before modernism.
parody, through imitating different
If we look back to the 18th century,
social groups that are commonly no-
we would see how the way people
ticeable. Here, she imitates through
dressed gave interpretations about
appearance and blends into the so-
their character, through what class
cial groups, proving the point I have
they belonged to and their wealth.
made previously that from our ap-
Similarly, clothing and fashion in the
pearance and what we choose to
present day does the same but on a
wear creates an identity, an identity
different level,
that is noticeable and interpretable,
“Whereas in the past, individuals were seen to have an identity apart from the goods they possessed, in the present era, one’s identity is defined in terms of the image that one creates through one’s consumption of goods, including the clothes one wears.” (Negrin, 1999:111)
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whether that is right or wrong.
Fig.9. The Punk Project (1997) by Nikki S Lee 2000:online
Fig.10. The Skateboarders Project (2000) by Nikki S Lee 2000:online
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Fig.11. Pick your team: all eyes are now on Lacoste’s Seventies- tinged team colours (2016) by Craig McDean 2016: 313
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Fig.12. Gucci’s feminine sportswear mashup is on a winning streak. Naturally, Alessandro Michele serves up his cult side stripes with blooming botanicals (2016) by Craig McDean 2016: 316
By creating a different identity through our clothing in the strive for authenticity, to be different, misinterpretations can occur. Through fashion and clothing, brings about innovation to bring new aesthetics to garments, giving them a new meaning, which in theory can give someone a new identity, a new purpose, a new interpretation, one that could be easily misinterpreted. The post-modern conception of ‘bricolage’. A key representation of this, is this vogue editorial (Fig. 11,12,13.) with their take on a feminine fashion sportswear ‘mash-up’. Again blurring the boundaries, giving the following questions, what are you? What do you want to be? It creates Fig.13. The millennial logo has returned. This time around wear yours beneath femine, gauzy chiffon (2016) by Craig McDean 2016: 322
confusion. A manufactured self that strives to be different yet still blends in.
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CONC LUSION So why do we manufacture ourselves to fit in? Focusing on what is authentic to what we may imitate. Honestly, there is no absolute answer. I personally have very varied views on it, from observing and realizing the way I choose to dress each day, I have realized that my urge to be different and to be individual is one that is a ‘holy grail’ and will probably never be a success of me in that sense but I do feel that I am not alone in this. We all see someone that we admire through their fashion and style because they portray ‘individuality’, but in essence they’re not individual, they have probably been inspired by someone else and at the fall front of it all is, a brand, a designer. Bringing forward again the loss of authenticity through mass production, created through modern-
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ism, making fashion more accessi-
mass production, we lost the idea
ble. Someone would have had to
of authenticity which is what we
design it and manufacture it, for
crave so much in today’s society.
them to actually wear it, meaning that again the loss of authenticity is an occurrence. We all want to fit in, but by doing this we manufacture ourselves to different degrees. It is brutally sad that a world we live in today, still occurs the judgments of opinions that were occurring way before modernism was even produced. My overall riding opinion to the reason, that we all manufacture ourselves is to the fact that fashion is our lives, in the means to clothing. We judge and that is why so many of us create our identities through our clothing. So again, I ask the question why do we manufacture ourselves to fit in, looking at the paradox of imitation and authenticity? It all links back to the choices made in the modernist times. By making fashion more accessible through
However, the ideas and conceptions to the reasoning and behavior to which we do manufacture ourselves to fit in but still find the desirability to be individual forms on the connotations of post modernism. As we do look back to influence us now and in the future. The postmodern conception of surface over depth, our image, our identity is more important. We are expressive in the way we dress in order to hold our individual identities. The end point I want to make is that we do manufacture ourselves through our fashion, we essentially all hold a sense of hybridity. We are a mash-up of everything that we want to be in order to be different but also fit in. Something that I like to call ‘authentic fusion’.
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List Of Illustrations [IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE] Fig.1. Cassettes Gang (2008) by Ari Versluis 2008: online Fig.2. Hipsters (2008) by Ari Versluis 2008: online Fig.3. Meuf - Evry (2009) by Ari Versluis 2009: online Fig.4. Veggies (2012) by Ari Versluis 2012: online Fig.5. Your Body Is A Battleground (1989) by Barbara Kruger 2003: online Fig.6. You Are Not Yourself (1984) by Barbara Kruger 2003: online Fig.7. Sportswear Market Pie Chart (2005) edited by Roshan Shishoo 2005: 38 Fig.8. The Schoolgirls Project (2000) by Nikki S Lee 2000: online Fig.9. The Punk Project (1997) by Nikki S Lee 2000: online Fig.10. The Skateboarders Project (2000) by Nikki S Lee 2000: online Fig.11. Pick your team: all eyes are now on Lacoste’s Seventies- tinged team colours (2016) by Craig McDean 2016: 313 Fig.12. Gucci’s feminine sportswear mash-up is on a winning streak. Naturally, Alessandro Michele serves up his cult side stripes with blooming botanicals (2016) by Craig McDean 2016: 316 Fig.13. The millennial logo has returned. This time around wear yours beneath femine, gauzy chiffon (2016) by Craig McDean 2016: 322 FRONT COVER. Different Textured Identities, Nottingham, (2016), own photograph. ESSAY LOGO. Sketched Face (Identity & Text), Nottingham, (2016), own photograph.
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List Of Citations [IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE] (Card, 2013: online) (Smelik. A, 2015: online) (Smelik. A, 2015: online) (V&A, 2008:81) (Smelik. A, 2015: online) (R.Shishoo, 2005:51) (Negrin, 1999:111)
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Bibliography Books:
[IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER]
BOYLE, D, 2003. Authenticity: Brands, fakes, spin and the lust for real life. LONDON: FLAMINGO. DESIGN, M., Guiu, S. and Available, N, 2007. Fashion identity. Barcelona: Index Book. FOGG, M. (2014) Why you can go out dressed like that: Modern fashion explained. United Kingdom: Thames & Hudson. KEISER, S.J., Garner, M.B. and Keiser, ra J, 2012. Beyond design: The synergy of apparel product development. 3rd edition. New York: Fairchild Books. SALAZAR, L, 2008. Fashion and sport. London: Victoria & Albert Museum. SHISHOO, R, 2005. Textiles for sport. Edited by Roshan Shishoo. Boca Raton, FL: Woodhead Publishing.
Articles: MELLERY-PRATT, R., 2015, Why are sportswear giants Nike and Adidas embracing fashion?, Business of Fashion [online]. 21st January 2015, Available via www.businessoffashion.com [Accessed: 22.02.2016]. MCDEAN, C., 2016, ‘Game, Set, Match’, Vogue Magazine, March 2016, pg.312-325.
Journals: NEGRIN, L., 1999, The Self as Image: A Critical Appraisal of Postmodern Theories of Fashion, Theory, Culture & Society, 16 (3): 99-118.
Additional Sources: Websites: ArtSlant, 2006. Nikki S Lee. Available at: http://www.artslant.com/global/artists/ show/3798-nikki-s-lee [accessed: 02.04.2016]. Collezioni, 2015. Sport & Street. Available at: http://www.collezioni.info/sport-andstreet/ [accessed: 19.02.2016]. Heyevent, c.2015. Part II: Concepts of the self and authenticity in the modern era. Available at: http://heyevent.com/event/fspmqzpejmcgua/part-ii-concepts-of-theself-and-authenticity-in-the-modern-era [accessed: 09.03.2016].
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Lilith Gallery Network, 2007. Barbara Kruger - feminist artist - the art history archive. Available at: http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/feminist/Barbara-Kruger. html [accessed: 21.02.2016]. SMELIK, A. 2015. The Performance of Authenticity [online]. Available at: www. annekesmelik.nl/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Address_Performance_Smelik.pdf [accessed: 20.03.2016] Tonkonow, c. 2001. Nikki S. Lee. Available at: http://www.tonkonow.com/lee.html [accessed: 15.03.2016]. Versluis, A. and Uyttenbroek, E. c. 1998. Exactitudes®. Available at: http://www. exactitudes.com/index.php?/about/ [accessed: 20.03.2016].
Video:
NOWNESS., 2015., Isabel Marant on authenticity and femininity in ‘getting there’. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diZ1yFDTA5Q [accessed: 09.03.2016]. Atelier LeonLeon., 2012. Fashion documentary ‘fashion & identity’. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SUYg0hCC_8&nohtml5=False [accessed: 10.03.2016]. Vogue Italy., 2011. Fashion represents one’s identity. Available at: https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwGDBFjxgUo&nohtml5=False [accessed: 11.03.2016].
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