As human beings, we are a naturally curious species. We want to explore the world and with each new discovery the only way to understand something is to relate it to the nearest known concept. When scientists explore the depths of our oceans, they unearth new lifeforms with each trip. With new lifeforms comes classifications, what kingdom, class, family, genus etc, the new lifeform belongs to. It's the same way that we relate to each other, we create boxes, stereotypes in order to understand the people around us. These helpful stereotypes over time become rigid, unchangeable cages. The fact is, life is constantly evolving, ideas change in mere seconds, we cannot simply define everything around us and not be open to the idea of change. The phenomenal Thandie Newton discusses the implications of defining self in a recent talk at the TED conference.
Now I'm not saying I have broken free of stereotypes, or stereotyping,
but I do attempt to see through these idea-loaded material elements as utterly
meaningless. A very good example is clothing and the way we present
ourselves. We put far too much emphasis on the hidden psychological
values of our clothing which in its essence is just a wrapper. When I get dressed, I see these elements as tools to explore various ideas. Like any tool, they can be used to explore deeper psychological elements. The difficulty of doing your own thing is that most people are afraid of change. Whilst one has to fight through many negative perceptions, one cannot put a price on freedom. A lot of people are afraid of change, but I'm frightened of the world becoming static or worse, regressing (Totally unrelated but sometimes this place really freaks me out)...
I want to open up this topic, in order to explore and firm up my views and create a new discussion. Originally I wanted to write a simple "Men in Skirts" essay, naively thinking it would be as simple as that. However this topic has become the bane of my existence. Trying to fit it into one post is near nigh impossible. So a new series is born today.
I'd like to also explain my absence from this here sounding board (bored?). I have just started a new job and frankly haven't had the time, nor sufficient mental capacity to devote to Feigned Perfection as I'd like. I've also been struggling with my own idea of self v oneness, and what it means to blog and work within the fashion industry. It's been especially tough to write knowing I have had this skirt post weighing me down since January. So hopefully now we have this introduction out of the way we can start properly exploring.
If there is one thing I want to sign off with, it's that I will probably never be a three post a week kinda blogger (on this platform anyway). Thank you for keeping me in your feeds and subscribing. I do not want to post just to keep up some kind of frequency, I only want to write from the heart, what's going on in my head. So please bear with me, keep me in your feeds (if you like what I write) and there's always twitter to see that I haven't completely fallen off the face of the earth...
[Old Rochas shirt from my schooldays, Thrifted Rag & Bone Vest, Thrifted Laura Ashley skirt, Old Chucks]
8 comments:
Science has really become the most limiting social measure of the human race. Male-female; hetero-homo; white-black; preferred genealogy-non-preferred... It's obvious that while scientists and sociologists try to put mammals (including us) into the box that fits us best, our connections to the world should be based on a wide, ambiguous spectrum. Of course it would be impossible to create dialectic demographics without creating these rigid categories, and so society makes us choose one option over the other.
Shopping (though this should be the least of our worries) is divided into homme and femme--and it's taboo to shop in the "other" section. Designers are so focused on maintaining these social divides that they lose their ultimate goal of making wearable art.
Looking forward to what you have to say for the future!
As you requested, I listened to the whole video which was pretty wonderful. Thank you for sharing, it was a simple concept but beautifully expressed. And true.
See you at yoga, where we will hopefully lose ourselves.
xx
Tiffany
keep it coming when ever you feel like it chap, i'm reading and listening. you don't need to keep up with it, having a job just puts it all on the back burner. i'm looking for full time work at the moment.
can't believe this has been coming since jan, seems like a subject very close to your heart. more than just the skirt issue but the whole identity thing on a whole
I've been contemplating a "skirt post" as well lately, although I haven't maybe thought it through so well as you! All I have to say is I like the skirt, the pic looks great - very Victorian/romantic.
I could write a whole book about this. I think the first thing to tackle is that gender is a social construct. Sex is biological (and even then it can be problematic to define), but gender is ascribed and culturally constructed - most elements of gender are not fully natural, but rather practised and learnt.
Where skirts as a taboo are concerned, it is primarily a Western issue (Scots notwithstanding). In the East skirts are worn by men in many forms, whether it be the lungi or the sarong. Bifurcated garments are hardly naturally suited to men, indeed it is quite an arbitrary separation.
All men in the West do wear a form of skirt, albeit unconsciously, and that is when they get out of the shower - they are wearing a towel wrap skirt to preserve modesty. It is during a state of undress, which is arguably where the exposed body would most need to be codified in terms of gender at a basic level (because the privates are covered), but yet instead of looking for a dhoti-style loincloth, we reach for the basic wrap around.
In actual everyday dress I think it is like Gaultier said - the male skirt is as different to the female skirt as the male body is to the female body. It can be executed in a thoroughly masculine way, but it can equally be done in a way to play against femininity - usually as a social comment, and in that respect it is one of the most prevalent forms. You have to deconstruct the deeply entrenched gender notions before the skirt can be reclaimed for men.
John Kim - Thanks so much John for commenting! Means a lot to me :). As you know this post has been a looooooong time in the making so we'll see how much wind I have in me to do this topic justice.
I think these categories are useful in order to digest the world around us. However I think we also need to personally decide whether we ourselves are going to let them dictate who we are or are we going to move freely through the boxes and not let them impede our development?
Tiffany - I think we lost ourselves in Yoga and I am very happy you watched the video. She is all kinds of amazing!
Mat - Thanks for the support Mat, it really means so much to me. I'm slowly figuring out how to re-arrange my life around this new schedule but I feel things are going well for now...
In the end whilst clothing is very important to identity, you take us all out of our clothes, out of our skins, out of the physical vessels its the soul that really matters. So finding how to show my soul on my sleeve is really tricky. And yes I have no idea what it means for my soul to be in a skirt occasionally, but it also doesn't really matter in the end.
Sean - I swear this has been such a weight on my shoulders so starting to open this topic feels so freeing! Please join in the discussion, there's nothing more I love then creating communication between like minded people!
Syed - Your comment literally just went into my brain, unscrambled it (a lot) and put many things I've been trying to organize in nice neat little folders. I may have to quote you in follow up posts. THANK YOU FOR THIS AMAZING COMMENT!
Thank you so much for the comment! Half that post was pretty much a digestion of Kenya Hara's White. It's a pretty good read, although incredibly short. Meanders in a good way and you can finish it in one sitting. If you're reading on wabi sabi, check out In Praise Of Shadows if you haven't already, it is awesome!
I'm so glad your blog is back! I was worried about you!
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