Is Modern Fashion Enslaving or Liberating - Dissertation Example

? Is Modern Fashion Enslaving or Liberating Introduction It cannot be denied that today’s culture is pressurizing men and women to adopt specific looks. But such looks do not necessarily reveal one’s inner beauty but make an appeal to the fashion desires of the world. Perhaps fashion is amongst the oldest and most significant aspects of human social culture and is known to have always had a strong impact on thoughts, preferences and way of life for many people all over the world. Although both men and women are conscious of fashion, it is more associated with women because they take extra interest and care in following the newest trends. The media plays a very important role in portraying fashion through movies, TV serials, commercials, magazines and other kinds of media. In the modern world, people get largely impacted by the messages being constantly broadcast by the media. It is difficult for individuals to resist or reject these messages because they would invariably creep into most people’s lives through friends, family members or peers that have already come under the grip of such pressures. Peer pressure plays a very important role in persuading people to adopt the changes because no one would wish to be treated or labelled as an outcast or backward by peers. This paper will research the evolution of fashion and its historical patterns and significance in arriving at conclusions whether modern fashion is enslaving or liberating. Culture has played a significant role in the creation of fashion across the ages in all parts of the world. Whether it is Victorian body-deforming corsets, Chinese foot-binding, tribal teeth sharpening or neck lengthening or modern leg-breaking stilettos, all these are usually very strongly related to culture but in most cases are accompanied by enormous pain all in the name of fashion or, even more, in the name of beauty. Women suffer from pain, discomfort and health problems to feel beautiful, appreciated or fashionable. In this regard, it has been right said by Jane Ussher that ‘Beauty is a cruel mistress’ (Ussher, 1991, p.26), despite the fact that a great deal of sacrifice is required to appear fashionable. The world has been characterized with the passing of fashion trends from mother to daughter, sister to sister or friend to friend. It is also evident that all the negative outcomes and side effects of pursuing beauty and fashion present only one side of the great dispute on whether fashion is for women or against them. Fashions are also introduced through campaigns by fashion houses in order to publicize fashion and to make people dependent on it. Publicity and media campaigns directly address people’s aspirations by associating fashion products and apparel with celebrities through fashion programs, advertising campaigns and sponsored programs. In average, there have been icons and celebrities and people look up to them in emulating them. Fashion is introduced through them and wearing trendy and fashionable clothing has always been the hip thing at any given time in any given age. Modern people feel disassociated with the world if they do not display the same involvement with fashion as others are doing, especially in a competitive world where everything matters that can give an edge over others. Models walking along the catwalk showcase new designs and fashions that are adopted by fashion houses for mass production to be consumed by the masses in meeting with the latest fashion trends. It can be said that the world too is just like a fashion show whereby fashion refers to prevailing styles, uses and customs in the larger perspective. In fact, the fashion sector is enslaved in being required to provide people with the latest designs and trends, which in turn lead to people being enslaved because they have to meet up with the competition to look trendy, fashionable and smart. Enslavement in this context implies that people are literally forced to adopt what appears to be in fashion. Chinese culture is characteristic of encouraging young girls to have their feet constricted from childhood despite the immense pain, associated immobility and discomfort. Similarly, Victorian women spent a great deal of money on acquiring latest corsets, while millions of modern women still buy and wear high heels in spite of the restrictions imposed on walking, negative effect on bone structure and body posture and the increased risks of leg and ankle injuries. It is not surprising that in many cases, such practices amongst women are carried on through other women, very often close relatives (e.g. mother, aunt etc.). The need to be perceived as beautiful and the desire to follow fashion trends is so strong that a mother will forget the pain she experienced when young and have her daughters go through the same pain as well. No matter which century we are living in, this pattern continues to remain the same. A major development in the modern world relative to being captivated by fashion is the aspiration of millions of women that undergo plastic surgeries; wear movement-restricting clothes and high heels. It can be argued in this context that all human beings have the freedom to make choices about what they should wear and how they should decide about it. Every individual has the choice whether to follow latest fashion trends. Given that man is a thinking being, he has the ability to think and decide about the fashion choices he should make. For instance, when an individual decides to purchase a particular design of clothing, he is making a conscious decision when he pays money and takes possession of the article. He is not being forced to make the purchase. From this analogy it appears that fashion is not enslavement because it pertains to conscious decision making. Literature Review During the last few years people have started becoming increasingly health conscious relative to issues such as smoking, drinking and eating fast food. A great deal of attention is being given to stress related ailments in being part of health, social and political programmes and campaigns. From the early schooling years, children are taught on how to be healthy and how to adopt healthy habits by avoiding activities labelled as unhealthy. The consequences of hazardous practices such as smoking that cause cancer and breathing problems and of other harmful activities are highlighted in society. However, fashion appears to get away with such preventive measures despite the several disadvantages associated with it. Since ages, people have been coping with barbaric practices such as foot binding and the centuries’ old patterns of wearing body deforming corsets without any complaints. It is known that during the 18th century, despite the toxic harms from prolonged use of sulphur based make up accessories, women were not deterred from using these materials solely because they wanted to look good in keeping with fashion trends of the period. Women are crazy about going on body exhausting dieting programs in spite of the risks associated with contracting disorders such as bulimia and anorexia nervosa. Females have no qualms about undergoing plastic surgery to satisfy their desires to be perfect, obviously with the intent of keeping up with fashion activities in order to avoid perceived social condemnation. The issue here is not about whether fashion related health problems should be brought to public consciousness more effectively, which probably is true, but relates to what extend fashion trends, in general, compromise on health issues. The harmful impacts of complying with fashion trends have always been recognized, which is evident from the related literature. Rudofsky (1947) held that people’s behaviours towards their bodies are not reasonable. If it was possible to measure the deepness of man’s disappointment with his own body, a great deal of insight would have been made possible on the problems relative to clothing. According to Rudofsky (1947), people are motivated to think of their real selves because of the external shell or the tailor made surface, which is disguised as the normal and the visible. In their daily lives people come across only the packaged form of the body while the real substance of one’s personality is intentionally hidden from public view. From this reasoning it is apparent that dismissing a substandard body through such acts of hiding has not improved one’s health but has instead created a false sense of satisfaction through the kind of clothing that is worn. According to Nadezhda Lamanova, the modern world cannot any longer accept the oppression of fashion and the carelessness of clothing. Clothes are essentially made for the objectives for which they are suited in terms of the person for whom they are made. In other words, clothing is made in keeping with fashion so that the physical details of the body can be observed and the garment is shaped and reshaped in providing and depicting the most affable human form. It is not denied that despite having innate or other body faults, every individual has a right to be happy and the conception of clothing in complying with fashion trends aims at achieving this objective through conscious modifications of the human figure by creatively constructing the dress so that appropriate proportions are revealed. Women certainly want to look good and they want it to be realistic. In this context Wan (2007) as written that “And, in reality, women come in all shapes and sizes. You’re a real woman, so you do have curves and lumps and bumps, asymmetrical breasts and stretch marks. (…) Your body is naturally beautiful and you should be celebrating that.’ (Wan, 2007, p.5). Gok Wan is a popular fashion stylist on television and guides women on how they can easily transform themselves to look great every day irrespective of one’s natural body shape and features. He has encouraged women to work towards looking amazing by doing the right shopping. He has encouraged women to make the best through what they have and not by changing their features and body shape through options such as dieting and plastic surgery. He gives tips to women on ways of choosing the best pair of jeans, the kind of under wear that will make them look amazing and the correct accessories that would make them appear slim. He has succeeded in not only improving the look of a woman’s body but has also guided women on how they can improve their confidence levels in accepting the body they have, without undergoing and adopting harmful ways of improving the self. The media plays a significant role in exposing the world to several images of celebrities and models looking exceptionally good, without considering that a great deal of effort goes into creating such beautiful images. The beauty that appears before viewers is not a truly natural phenomenon because a whole team of make-up experts, lighting specialists and capable photographers have put in a lot of hard work in creating the beautiful images in the form of the models that walk across the ramp. It should not be forgotten that modern technology allows the images to look desirable through processes such as computer editing. People understand these concepts but still get carried away in comparing themselves with the unrealistic images in order to become perfect. It is common knowledge that many of the photos we see in glossy magazines and on billboards have been previously stretched, retouched and airbrushed. As a consequence of being constantly exposed to images of the 'perfect shape' and targeted by companies selling low-fat products, it may trigger in one a feeling of inadequacy This is why women need to be reminded by television programs such as “How to look good naked” (2006) or “Trinny and Susannah Undress…” (2006) that their bodies are ‘amazing things of natural beauty’ (Wan, 2007, p.4). Another example of helping to build confidence in women by creating thought provoking advertisements is the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty and Self-Esteem Fund. Real beauty is something that comes from within and cannot be improved by adding prettiness through external means. It comes from and is enhanced by the perfection of the inner personality. According to Oscar Wilde, the perfection of the body should be the objective of people that wish to look beautiful, which is, “body is beautiful, so all apparel that rightly clothes it must be beautiful also in its construction and in its lines’. (Oscar Wilde, “More radical ideas upon dress reform”, Stern, Against Fashion, p.118). The beauty and fashion industry has the freedom to market and sell new products by creating unique and attractive images that strongly influence the modern and liberated woman. Barbara Sichtermann holds that women are indirectly promised that it is possible to buy beauty and can thus be achieved by most of them. However, the reality is different because real beauty is demonstrated through an individual’s inner self and is not attainable easily. This is perhaps why women get motivated to adopt all possible methods to enhance beauty. Beauty is not as common and as simple as just having two hands and two feet and if it were that simple the fashion industry may not have been in existence at all. If beauty was evident everywhere it would never have been so much in demand and people would not have longed for it. All the fantasies and untruth associated with beauty would have been superficial. Therefore, beauty is not something that is gifted to everybody. Women wish to be slim because it requires lot of time, effort and investment and if everybody had opportunities to remain slim, the concept of looking slim would have been rapidly taken over by another status aspiration. At the same time, it is unrealistic to believe that people can get away from the artistic, visual and social expectations that the fashion world, the media and the modern culture have forced upon the world. The truth is that the human body continues to be relatively dependent upon social controls and status (Thesander, The Feminine Ideal, p.33). Most human beings are knowingly or unknowingly impacted by this kind of glorification of the body that eventually changes people’s perceptions about beauty and ugliness. The female body may have now been freed from the limitations and harms of the tight and restricting corsets, but it has certainly not been freed from the idolization and modifications that relate to perceptions in the modern world. Nevertheless, the human body may be altered and modified in complying with contemporary fashion ideals; it will never become perfect with such perceptions (Thesander, The Feminine Ideal, p.14). In keeping with the tenets of the Productivist theory, Tatlin held that there was no basis in giving too much importance to one’s style and design of dress. Rather, the clothes should be designed so that they are durable, comfortable and convenient to clean. The cuts of clothing ought to be cautiously measured in order to ensure convenient accommodation of all body positions and movements. Tatlin cited the example of the straight-cut jacket that was created in being buttoned right up to the neck and had a weird long shape that was more broad at the shoulders and narrow on the neck. Similarly, fashionable trousers during his time were much narrower when they reached the feet. Such strange styles that were obviously not graceful were believed to have several realistic benefits. They prevented the wind from entering the body, while the loosely cut coat barred the cloth from bonding with the body. The strange shape of the jacket caught a large amount of air that worked as a means of thermal control. It was thus not surprising that Tatlin referred to his jacket and pant, not as beautiful but as being a warm and hygienic clothing (Stern, Against Fashion, p.49). William Morris’s golden rule was very popular, “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful,” (Stern, Against Fashion, p.5) because clothes had to perform and be comfortable and beautiful simultaneously. The repeated transformation of fashion concepts had to be made redundant as they did not comply with practical functionality and the consequent illogicality did not allow them to become beautiful. Morris argued that clothing ought to be fashioned in keeping with a close association with the body instead of complying with the whims and demands of fashion. He held that clothing ought to cover the human body; it should not sketch the human form, nor should it eliminate its form. Thinking from the perception of ugliness, it is understood as something that is not made well or something that is not fit enough to serve the required objective. Invariably, ugliness gives way to the need for becoming fit and acceptable because ugliness is mostly perceived as a symbol of worthlessness and failure. On the other hand, beauty signifies a delightful economy in providing people with something that is of usefulness, while ugliness denotes extravagancy resulting in expenses and waste of resources. It is in this context that Oscar Wilde believed that “ugliness, as much in costume as in anything else, is always the sign that somebody has been unpractical. So the costume of the future in England, if it is founded on the true laws of freedom, comfort and adaptability to circumstances, cannot fail to be most beautiful also, because beauty is the sign always of the rightness of principles, the mystical seal that is set upon what is perfect, and upon what I perfect only” (Oscar Wilde, “More radical ideas upon dress reform”, Stern, Against Fashion, p.118). In effect, man’s urge to alter his physiology is distinctly characteristic of human beings. Since primitive times, man has been moulding and decorating his body, such as through tattoos, painting the body and making physical mutilations. These practices have remained almost the same to this day. Although such forms of body art have their roots in ceremonial, religious and racial objectives, the intention in the modern world for such actions is quite different. The absence of meaning is evident in the fast changing intensities of decoration and intentionally changing physiology, which is mostly reliant on the prevailing fashions at any given time. The present times are not much concerned about real beauty and any occurrence of beauty is considered to be entirely incidental because the modern world has come to recognize beauty in ugliness and staleness in beauty (Rudofsky, 1947, p.51). It has been aptly asserted by Rudovsky (1947) that the perpetual appeals and challenges of experimentation cannot be explained by the taste or emotion that is obtained through the human body’s artistic content. Danesi (1999) has reacted strongly to the human perceptions of sexual signals as related with the wearing of high heels by women and highlighting female sexuality. In expressing his thoughts about the heel, Oscar Wilde wrote, “with the front prop left out, and its inevitable effect is to throw the body forward, to shorten the steps, and consequently to produce that want of grace which always follows want of freedom” ( Oscar Wilde). When women wear heels, the body appears to tilt forward, thereby enhancing the focus on the breasts and buttocks, while improving the shape of the lower legs. There are several cultures across the world that considers the feet as being sexually attractive. For instance, in China parents of the groom will first make enquiries about the feet of the prospective bride because bound feet are considered to be of a high aesthetic standard. In similar vein, almost all over the world, wearing stockings and high heels is believed to be very erotic. Massaging the feet is also believed to be an erotic sexual activity. Human beings have now become accustomed to being delighted with the unlimited means that are available to move away from reality, and fashion provides the best options for achieving such ends. It is quite common to find majority of the people in the contemporary world to convincingly reveal that they are extremely jaded with the natural forms of the body and invariably view it as a means to test their innovative creations. Nevertheless, the current practices of body sculpting occur mostly at the cost of health and by sacrificing one’s comfort level. Discussion It is often argued that everybody in today’s world does not entirely follow fashion and hence cannot be said to be enslaved by fashion. Fashion in the current environment is viewed as breaking away from social norms, which is why it is often related with being liberating. The world is changing very fast and people appear to be breaking away from what was believed to be social or traditional norms, which no longer grip people within a strong social structure. For example, family units, which were the main strengths of societies are changing and there is a distinct reversal of family roles. Societal developments such as same sex marriages reveal that people are moving against established trends in resisting the impact of fashion to adhere to what is common and widely acceptable, which does indicate that there is more dependence on fashion. Modern society is also viewed as being enslaved by fashion because of the strong influence of celebrities and fashion icons. Youth mostly get carried away with the aggressive media campaigns relative to new products that invariably address the human need to be associated with the latest fashion that is endorsed by fashion icons, celebrities and sports personalities. All of them are working towards developing something new that will support the popularity of the new product in addition to giving them leverage to promote themselves in the fashion world. They are able to get a foothold in the fashion world on account of their success and popularity. Generally, whatever they do in terms of actions and initiatives is viewed by their fans as being fashionable. These celebrities and fashion icons are followed as role models in society and strongly impact the lives of people. What many view as being tyrannical others perceive as opportunities of choosing ways of presentation and thus, of expressing themselves. However, what some see as pure tyranny others perceive as the opportunity to choose the way of presenting and, therefore, expressing themselves. Many young girls and women are proud to be fashionable. Not only do they not find fashion as controlling and restricting but they actually exercise their right to follow it. Millions of women do not see anything wrong with becoming a fashion slave and maybe, in fact, there is nothing wrong with wanting to be accepted, noticed and feeling sexually attractive (Beckingham, 2005). Still on the other hand, some women treat fashion as their secret weapon which gives them control over men. By putting on high heels women send sexual messages as well as exhibit an authoritarian nature because these few additional inches convey different perspectives, enable them to feel more powerful and in control of their own sexuality. Fashion gives confidence and when a woman feels confident about herself, she may become a dangerous threat to the rules of the men’s world. Some say there is often no point of fighting against the strong opponent but ways should be found to beat him in his own game. However, such patterns of breaking away from social norms are practiced by the masses because there is a constant conflict amongst people to come out as a winner in the game of looking beautiful, sexy and charming, which is made possible by adopting the latest fashion trends. Perceptions have developed in modern societies that in keeping abreast with modern fashion one is able to depict an impression of keeping with the times and is hence not considered out of place. Even if one does not inherently wish to adopt the latest fashion, he or she is often compelled to do so in complying with the demands of society. These things happen because of changes in thinking patterns and the acceptance of people towards changing attitudes and behaviours. It can be argued in this context that the given changes are in the form of new fads instead of attempts to resist fashion. Over time, people move away from one fashion to another without consciously realizing that they are naturally being led into adopting these changes. The change in people because of fashion is quite a subtle impact because people do not realize how fashion gets into their lives such as picking clothing that one inherently wants to be seen in. This implies that people want to be seen in clothing that is acceptable to the public eye. Fashion trends become a part of people’s daily lives and if they do not adopt these trends they feel they are not behaving normally. It is in this context that “The consciousness of being perfectly dressed may bestow a peace such as religion cannot give” (Herbert Spencer, Rudofsky, 1947, p.88). In fact, dress is an important element of social life and anthropologists have held that historically, this aspect has been an essential feature of all cultures, which is why people dress in particular ways by adopting clothing and other practices such as cosmetics, tattooing etc. to appear acceptable in society at any given time. Putting the same thing differently, culture plays an important role in adorning the body and enhancing perceptions of one’s beauty. According to Entwistle (2000), public perceptions always require the body to be dressed properly so that flesh is not flaunted or inadvertently exposed in public. It should not be potentially seditious, disrupting or upsetting. He holds that “bodies which do not conform, bodies which flout the conventions of their culture and go without the appropriate clothes are subversive of the most basic social codes and risk exclusion, scorn or ridicule”. (Entwistle, 2000, p6). Norbert Elias (1978) examined the ways in which historical developments relative to enhanced centralization of authority to only a few families, such as the appearance of royal courts led to the reduction of violence amongst people and races and further induced stronger social controls on the emotions of people. Courts during the medieval period required people to abide by a specific code of conduct and made them realize the need to keep track of their physical condition in order to meet the requirements of being cultured and civilized. The medieval courts were relatively mobile entities in promoting ideas that one could be successful only if they demonstrated behaviors that complied with the required moral codes such as good mannerisms, humor and courtesy. In this regard, the body played a major role in depicting one’s status in terms of complying with the norms of the society. Such developments in society led to the endorsement of innovative psychological frameworks that fostered and encouraged people to be increasingly aware of the self as a unique entity that was contained in the body. Here, it can be felt that complying with the practices of the times made people to become an active part of society (Tseelon, 1997). The practices may have been mandatory for people to comply with but it is evident that these practices became norms in society primarily with the objective of making the quality of life better so that people get more happiness. It can be said that fashion is enslaving if one considers that the body is a medium of expression that is excessively impacted by culture in expressing the social pressures that are forced upon people in a competitive environment where most people are constantly struggling to emerge as winners in their respective activities. Therefore, it is enslaving because people have no option but to comply with social situations that impose on people to be constrained in acting in specific ways. In this context, dress in daily life is the result of social pressures in terms of the images depicted by the dresses people wear that are indicative of the situations that are considered sound (Entwistle, 2000, p.15). For example, the clothing styles of the 19th century such as the corset were believed to have disciplined the body because a woman that did not wear a corset was considered to be appalling. Conversely, in the modern world dress styles appear to be less rigid and restraining and more comforting while focus is made on casual clothing. Another characteristic in the modern world is that gender roles are not obligatory. From this perception, fashion can be considered to be liberating and beauty now needs to comply with new kinds of discipline. For example, the current trends require one to have a firm tummy for which one needs to exercise regularly and be watchful about what is being eaten. It can be argued that to achieve this status one has to be disciplined, which means that in order to meet the demands of modern fashion one has to make lot of efforts. This kind of extra efforts were not required in the past, thus suggesting that modern fashion forces people to adopt particular lifestyles in order to remain with the times (Veblen 1953, Roberts 1977). Conclusion In conclusion, it can be said that modern fashion cannot be said to be enslaving people; rather it disciplines them in adopting better life styles so that they wear clothing that make them feel more comfortable in addition to making them look good and to feel modern. At the same time, it is true that arriving at a venue without appropriate clothing makes one to feel out of place and susceptible to rejection. Hence, modern fashion can be said to be instilling a sense of confidence in having better experience and meeting with public expectations. It is also evident in this context that caring about one’s body is not simply related to being healthy but more importantly, it is about feeling good. It enhances one’s happiness level and leads to personal fulfilment, which again depends upon the extent to which one complies to society’s demand of conforming with current standards of beauty and health. Evidently, the same behavioral circumstances apply in modern society in which democratic processes cannot force people to adopt specific moral and behavioral patterns but through modern fashion they are spontaneously led to adopt fashion in order to meet up with the expectation of society. People are free not to comply with such practices but then they face the risk of being rejected. In today’s societies it is very difficult to get away from being impacted by modern fashion. The world is becoming increasingly modernized and fashion acts as the invisible power that makes people do things and such patterns appear to be a kind of enslavement that will remain a permanent feature in society. References Breward, C. (1995) 'The culture of fashion: a new history of fashionable dress'  Cutler, R.J. (2009) 'The September Issue: Anna Wintour & the Making of Vogue'(DVD)  Entwistle, J. (2000) 'The Fashioned body'  Evans, C. and Breward, C. (2005) 'Fashion and modernity'  Featherstone, M. (1991) ‘The Body in Consumer Culture’ pp.170-196  Giddens, A. 'Modernity and self-identity: self and society in the late modern age'  Giddens, A. (1991) ‘Modernity and Self-Identity’  Lipovetsky, G. 'The Empire of Fashion'  Roberts, H. (1977) ‘The Exquisite Slave: The Role of Clothes in the Making of the Victorian Woman’ pp. 554-69  Rudofsky, B. (1947) ‘Are Clothes Modern?’  Simmel, G. (1957) ‘The American Journal of Sociology: Fashion’ Vol.62, No.6, pp.541-558  Sparke, P. ‘An Introduction to Design and Culture’  Stern, R. (1992) 'Against Fashion'  http://www.jstor.org/pss/2773129  Thesander, M. (1997) ‘The Feminine Ideal’  Wan, G. (2007) ‘How to Look Good Naked: Shop for your shape and look amazing’  Wilson, E. (2003) ‘Adorned in dreams: Fashion and modernity’  Read More