Fashion and Performance What Dressing Speaks of - Essay Example

Fashion and Performance – What Dressing Speaks of Costume plays a significant role in cinema and it is worth to investigate with seriousness its contribution to cinema – how exactly costume works or what part it plays in audience pleasure and identification. Film studies, ever since it emerged as a separate branch of study in the post-modern period has raised innumerable outlets to the study of its various features – the most rich and revealing, costume. Pam Cook, Stella Bruzzi, have emerged as the forerunners in their attempt to unravel how potential is this field. While Cook is concerned with female costume entirely, Bruzzi explored both male and female costume. The statement by Quentin Tarantino is noteworthy. He says, ‘the mark of any good action movie is that when you get through seeing it, you want to dress like the character.’ In this respect cinema’s role is not just promoting but also regulating customer culture. Bruzzi gives the costume a textual reading in her most prized book Undressing Cinema: Clothing and Identity in the Movies. She explains how costumes construct a character and /or the star persona, how they quote or appropriate from earlier films, how they relate to haute couture, say or drag shows. Often, the cinema looses depth by not being better connected to what audience members were wearing or wanted to wear. Thus the book provides invaluable insights to the new theorizing of costume in cinema. While discussing on the role of costumes in cinema it is worth mentioning the essay in Invisible Fashions by Akbar Abbas, who talks about the way in which certain types of theory can themselves become fashionable. (Wollen). “Clothes can primarily be considered as bearers of social identity and weaving, an approach which originate in the post modern discursive field where cultural studies meet semiotics.” (Wollen). It is quite noteworthy that clothes are intimately related to wearers and their bodies of course, but they also have their own qualities and identity simply as clothes. In every day life, clothes are a crucial element in the self presentation of specific wearers, along with their gestures, deportment, language, lifestyle etc. When we encounter them in shops and when they are not being worn they are disembodied abstracted from specific use. Hence, clothes have to be granted a niche of their own, a right to be considered autonomously as well designed, original, ingenious and even beautiful. Drake Stutesman notes how ‘the film hat served complex functions’. (Wollen). It was designed to convey information about the wearer’s character, state of mind and social status. It aided the cameraman by casting a downward shadow in providing a tonal contrast. It was the job of a hat to enhance the face by framing it without overwhelming it. To this fact, I could relate fashion that has emerged as a separate entity which has changed the whole direction of male fashion. Fashion, has its own history and its involvement of the interaction between designer and client or consumer has launched many a choice. Whether directly or indirectly, patterns of consumption and consumer preference have an impact on patterns of productions. Trends affect the choice of customers and which are a direct product of the fashion of age. How can one forget the contribution of Brummell, whose dandyism coupled with meticulousness created a new era in the outfit world. Brummell of course took pride in faultless manipulation of clothes, folds and loops and became an artist of all sorts by producing such an effect that it would change the whole direction of male fashion. Indeed the first reveries and thought of the designer to their final appearances in the runway and in the shops into cinema and other fields is a long, arduous, exciting voyage. It is only shallow people who fail to judge by appearances says Oscar Wilde. True to this we find that the rising industrialization and commercial bourgeois seek refuge in the new form of fashion and add values to the growing civilization, What the world has witnessed is not a change in lifestyles of the peoples but a post-modern aspect of globalization. Sarah Street in ‘Costume and Cinema’ says that “costume can be relied upon to convey information within film.” Edith Head, a female designer applauds the role of story telling wardrobes that ‘clearly delineated both character and narrative action to the extent that if sound were lost in the auditorium audiences would be still be able follow the film.’ Costumes are a shorthand to character while also occasionally underscore thematic colour or design that is matching can be used to hint at or forecast relationships. Fabric can indicate the inner qualities of the persona. In the field of cinema, costume studies has subsequently and importantly taken in society and production aspects. ‘Jane Gaines and Charlotte Heezog have edited the collection, Fabrications, which set the ball rolling. Pam Cook’s Fashioning the Nation and Sue Harper’s work on Gainsborough costuming both of which posited costumes ability to convey ideas and tensions about sexual and national identities’. (Cook, p.126). Stella Bruzzi’s exploration of the importance of the clothes in the film and the symbolic potential of male costuming in Undressing Cinema has gained immense momentum. Cinema has adopted a monolithic, unchanging view of clothes’ symbolic values. Fashion or rather fashionability of film, particularly Hollywood, has an important element of universal appeal. It has made a direct impact on off screen fashions and within cinemascope. Within the short frame work that my work has indulged in, let me concentrate on Dandyism and the male fashions in the 1960’s to 1970’s British cinema. Delving into this concept is exploring the relationship between gender and national identity. The phenomenon of Dandyism dates back to several centuries and they express the contemporary male agencies and natural power. It is not unnatural to see style suits, elaborate gold rings, decorative watches and gold bracelets on the screen. “……fashion spreads usually focus on three distinct styles: an every day sports wear look, 1960’s and 70’s gangster – influenced highly tailoring suits and the extremely buoyancy and decorative peacock look. The later to usually photograph with the edition of female models. These highly self conscious styles suggest masculine concern with fashion, detail and fantasy, representative themes of male dandyism, a phenomenon that dates back to antiquity.” (Bruzzi and Church, p.316). “Costume historian de Marly asserts that fashions must be read in the context of the gendering of the historical period …. Whether a nation is at war, its international relations, political stability and amount of power designated to each sex. On the whole fashion foregrounds male strength, hyper masculinity and social status.” (317). In his study of British post-war male style, Frank Mort offers an alternative interpretation suggesting that men’s increase I interest in fashion indicated their upward mobility. It is also seen that people felt increasing colour and frills on male dress is a national archetype as it recall the aristocratic look of the yester years. “The influence of past, present and future on male fashion in the 1960’s early 70’s is felt greatly even in the screen of the coeval. In Get Carter and Performance when male heroes dressed they were a source of administration and public emulation. The Edwardian dress revival, with outfits in glaring colors double breasted long jackets symbolized the nostalgia for the past. My Fair Lady (1964) saw a frightening brand of spectacular, attractive, aggressive and highly sexual masculinity at the centre of society. The 18th century play of hats and coats was usual. While the Americans were conscious of their attire, the British were rather more casual. To the Americans coloured and frilled shirts were signs of homosexuality and a flexible identity. Dandyism, in spite of various divergent trends, has managed to survive and emerge as a separate branch of study. It is to be borne in mind that the Brummell plays a rather significant role in contributing to this phenomenon. Cinema, over the years has witnessed drastic transformations in its costume setting and colour appeal. It has to be mentioned that clothing does not call for radical political or racial statements. Though there emerges differences in history, class regimes and dynasties there does emerge draping masculinity in the shroud of colour. The movement of the 1960’s to 70’s has made a bold effort in its supreme ability to resist feminization. Often criticized for being too formal and feminine, Dandyism plays a significant role in establishing a firm contact with the past. Androgyny is a separate culture which is experimented in Dandyism. This statement calls for revaluation of the understanding of Dandyism. This phenomenon neither projects nor states any state of mind or culture. It merely highlights the change in trend and outlook of the age. The writer, in an effort to understand and substantiate the contribution of film culture has effectively brought out fashion as a means to serve the end. It is noteworthy that she has, investigated into fashion in the light of the emerging and myriad postures into film making. The art of film making and the study of them delves deep into the factors that contribute to the success of the genre. It has to be taken to mind that inquiring fashions in males and females in the contemporary field of study is more of an inquiry into the socio- economic dimensions that the society is influenced by. In the light of this argument, it can be stated that fashion is indispensable to a film and the film projects the latest trends in fashion. Fashion, in the post –modern era has emerged as a separate branch of study and its contribution to society is significant. Usually, fashion is associated more with female patterns. But now, the scale seems to have taken a different stand. Study of costume and costume designing is a part of the modern social outlook. It is no exception that male fashions in the modern perspective do not get a revaluation. Stella Bruzzi has not only explored into female cultural patterns but also into the male consciousness of dressings and the gradual incorporation of the trend into the fabric of the society. Her book is definitely an insight into social acceptability of fashion. Works Cited Bruzzi, Stella., and Church, Pamela. Fashion Cultures: Theories, Exploration and Analysis. London: Routledge. 1997. Cook, Pam. Fashioning the Nation Costume and Identity in British Cinema. London: British Film Institute. 1996 Wollen, Peter ‘Framework’, The Journal of Cinema and Media. Read More