BAM10290158 Emma Jane Bamford
Introduction to Cultural and historical studies
BA Fashion illustration
Class and occupation
Term 2 - March 2011
How are fashion and appearance central to the construction of social identities?
Clothing itself constitutes one of the most visible structures of social status and gender in society today. In this essay i will explore and identify, how appearance alone is central to the construction of social identity as specified by the statement above. I shall research into what affects the social class system have had on fashion over a historical period, as well as how fashion has changed due to alterations on social class through out the years, with lifestyle, gender and sexual orientation showing a difference in how people constructed there wardrobes. I will be focusing on the distinctions and key components from the 19th and 20th century, where the change, the desire to signal a specific display of empowerment was visible, with he change of retail
The careful consideration and choice of the colour for an outfit was considered a skill related to good taste, a woman should always be aware of which colours suit her complexion, her hair and her age. 'One should be jealous of a woman who knows 'her colours' and has the ability not to change them according to the latest fashion' (Rabotnitsa 1957).
It was well noted that an 'elegant woman' with good taste should be an expert in constructing her day to day ensembles, selecting accessories like, brooches, hats and earrings, and paying a large amount of attention to detail with little amount of effort.
Firstly, I will study an extract by Catherine Horwood, looking into clothing itself, from the period before and after World War Two, such a crucial time in the transformation and rebuilding of the ever so 'devised class market' ( Keeping up appearances, Horwood, C ).
The arrival of Department stores in the 19th century, used as a shopping forum, indicate a more assertive marketing approach by suppliers. In 1933, Lawrence Neal of 'Daniel Neal and sons' reviewed and divided the retailing market into six categories ;
Department stores, British speciality shops such as Austin Reeds, Multiple shops, such as Hardy & Willis, The Co Operatic movement, 'Fixed price' chain stores such as marks and spencer's and finally the small independent shops. It was stated that there was no mention of second hand markets even though they evidently existed. By the end of the 19th century there was a wide and growing variety of retailing outlets across the country to suit all classifications.
Now we have great selection and intense competition, with Outlets, Boutiques, markets, department stores, chain stores, supermarket and megastores to elect from.
'Where people shop has always been a good indicator not just of their taste but of their social aspirations (Shopping for status, Horwood, C). But in 1939 just as the social disturbance of another traumatic world war approached, that all changed. With attitudes to aprons and overalls altering with time, more woman had to take on their own domestic chores. However there would usually be a distinct difference between the 'Maids' apron and that worn by a middle-class woman carrying out her own cleaning, hers was often 'decorated with flowers or trimmed with a coloured frill' ( Getty, H ) .
In 1939, Britain and France declared war and conflict on Germany, after Adolf Hitler refusing to abort the invasion of Poland. After Neville Chamberlain resigned in 1940 and handed over power to Winston Churchill, the new labour government encouraged the British Woman to 'Make do and Mend', to help the war Effort.
Clothes were in short supply and rationed, In a bid to relieve work, Women stopped wearing fancy clothes and started wearing trousers or dungarees instead (Image 2).
'Land girls' often wore a scarf, which they tied around the head to protect against the risk of getting trapped in machines.
The Womans Land Army also known as ''The Forgotten Army'' combined of female volunteers from every background and mixtures of 'class' in Britain, The girls assisted each other, operatingheavy apparatus and working hard, living away from their family and homes. Resourceful girls normally carried out individual tailoring and made a vast improvement on the uniforms. The quality of the clothes were not as significant during this time, but when the time arose, the well crafted clothing gave the wearer a feeling of confidence in their class status.
'Back to the land, we must all lend a hand.
To the farms and the fields we must go.
There's a job to be done,
Though we can't fire a gun
We can still do our bit with the hoe…'
In 1945 the Conservative party, where said to have 'Won the war but lost the peace' Churchill was said to have led Britain to Victory and announced VE day on the 8th May 1945.
The labels 'Upper', 'Middle' and 'Working' class, was a way of categorising the sharp social divergence. It was simple to a judge a persons classification by the cleanliness and quality of their clothes, and showing what impact fashion has had on class is an extract from Herbert Blumer - Fashion 'From class differentiation to collective selection' (Fashion Theory) Discussing an quotation from Georg Simmel's analysis 60 years ago.
''Fashion arose as a form of class differentiation in a relatively open class society'', ''subjacent classes adopt such insignia's as a means of satisfying their strive to identify with a superior status, they in turn are copied by members of classes beneath them'', and in this process the distinctive mark of the elite class filter down through a class pyramid, and all grades of classification will meet in the middle. The extract from Blumer's 1969 extract also concerns class, but he is arguing that class is not the best way of explaining what fashion is or how it works.
Clothing is one of the most visible structures of social status and gender, and secondly i will explore the key details behind sex and gender and how people from different generations have perceived their positions in social display.
With the mixture of Knowledge, belief, morals and habits playing some of the vital roles in our cultural society, Diana Crane questioned, IX (Crane. D. 2000) '' It has long been said that clothes make the man'' .
There is no simple definition of fashion, shown in the extracts below taken from the 'Structure and agency debate' (Fashion Theory)
a) that the construction of an individual identity in fashion or clothing is possible only by using the available different garments, and the different garments available at any one time form a structure, and
b) That structures of difference are generated only by the actions of individuals who are constructing identities for themselves.
The labels 'Upper', 'Middle' and 'Working' class, first appeared in the 19th century as a way of categorising the sharp social divergence, that arose in Britain around the industrial revolution, the quality of the clothes gave the wearer a feeling of confidence in their class status and was simple to a judge a persons classification by the cleanliness and quality of their clothes. During the 1800's, People of all social classes began to wear similar styles of clothing which links back to the extract by Simmel (1904) and since then, it is now easier to identify an expensive garment by the quality of its fabric and manufacture than by its style.
'It not what you do, its who you know'. with strong evidence to suggest that the people in your social network have a large affect on your position in society, and uncover a broader ranger of opportunities that would otherwise be available to you.
The extensive range of fashion Today, with clothes worn in social arrangements such as work, signify a social class, as well as previous era's, many convey the desire to be professional. The social class is mainly defined by your economic, social and cultural capital, (calculating your occupation, earnings and your savings for example). In the 1990's these definitions were drastically transformed, first by the near complete destruction of the local garment production factories and expansion of design-culture industries in the new york fashion industry.
[1300]
[Angela Partington's discussion about class, consumption and cultural critique. and she argues against the idea that post-war working class women were the passive consumer of fashion, Proposing that a new visual identity be constructed out of an appropriation of available design and fashion material. Partington does not hold with the idea that fashion and clothing 'express' class experience or identities, she describes the process in which fashion and clothing are used to construct and communicate an alternative class identity, one that challenges existing stereotypes and identities.] - own words
Bibliography :
Borin VAN loon, 1997, Introducing cultural studies, Kan book ltd
Edwards, T. 1997, Men in the mirror, Biddles ltd
Sally Munt, R. 2000, Cultural studies and the working class
http://virgobeta.lib.virginia.edu/catalog/u5100721
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Crane. D. (2000), Fashion and its social agendas
Horwood. C. 2005, Keeping up appearances, fashion and class between the Wars.
Barnard. M. (2007), Fashion Theory, A Reader.
Clark. H. 2009, The Fabric of Cultures, Fashion, identity and Globalisation.
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01467/land-girls_1467566c.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/6077289/BBC-to-show-new-Land-Girls-drama.html&usg=__uavsmHEB4uH-4fMTGP97QiACqmQ=&h=288&w=460&sz=28&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=IJ-EiAQcZdXE3M:&tbnh=138&tbnw=190&ei=tmRmTdH3K8qwhQeW4eW5DQ&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dland%2Bgirls%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26biw%3D1262%26bih%3D596%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C13&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=363&oei=tmRmTdH3K8qwhQeW4eW5DQ&page=1&ndsp=18&ved=1t:429,r:17,s:0&tx=91&ty=49&biw=1262&bih=596
http://www.homesweethomefront.co.uk/web_pages/hshf_wla_pg.htm
Blumer. H. Fashion. From class differentiation to collective selection, Fashion Theory, A Reader.
Simmel. G. (1904) From class differentiation to collective selection.
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