#histart338

Portrait of the Journalist Sylvia Von Harden by Otto Dix, 1926

The Keaton Blouse by Shades of Grey on wildfang.com, 2014

The White Button-Up on hautebutch.com, 2012

Blurring The Lines in Women's and Men's Apparel "The New Woman," a concept of the feminine that rose to popularity in the 1920's, had many defining characteristics: short hair. Visible knees. Adapted menswear. A fierce tenacity to do things that had formerly been considered taboo for a woman of character--go out alone, play sports, have a beer, have a career. 

The line between the feminine and masculine had begun to blur, and it was met with criticism. Images like Otto Dix's Portrait of the Journalist Sylvia von Harden capture the new style that took the Western world by storm. Her apparel is decidedly less feminine than the bussels and corsets of the middle class woman thirty years prior. Both the pattern, red and black geometric; and the shape, straight and square, bring to mind the casual wear of an every day man. As many criticized this look as loved it: an unfeminine female was a new concept, one which took some adaptation in attitude.

Even today, the two genders representation continues to mesh together. The fashion world and society have come a long way--women wear blue jeans, men wear long hair, women wear suits, men carry shoulder bags. Many styles are tailored to fit both the male and female body.

However, there is still some differentiation and prejudice in fashion: a woman with short hair and flannel is assumed a different sexual orientation. A man needs a lot of courage to wear anything other than trousers. The world has some progression to do, and certain companies are trying to spearhead the movement.

Wild Fang clothing caters to the "tom boy," and specializes in fitting masculine trends into a female's wardrobe. Their mission statement proclaims them a "wardrobe-raiding Robin Hood" of menswear. One can look at their pieces, such as the Keaton Blouse, and see the obvious masculine connections--appears to lie flat, double breasted pocket, and a proper collar. However, the feminine is there, too. Three-quarter sleeves and a sheer fabric create a bridge between the two fashion worlds.

Haute Butch does something a little different. Rather than bridging the gap between menswear and women's fashion, the company seeks to directly adapt menswear to the female figure. Pieces like White Button-Up, rather than taking elements of current and classic trends in masculine and feminine fashion, Haute Butch simply takes a piece of menswear--the button up shirt--and makes slight alterations in fit so that it hugs the female form properly. This is new and intuitive in the fashion world. Many women who identified as masculine or prefer masculine fashion trends had to previously alter their own clothes, or deal with ill-fitting apparel.

1871 - 1888 - 1894 - 1952 - 1987 - 2014 Harper's Bazaar Covers via harpersbazaar.com

WEEK TWELVE

Fashion Photography: Late to The Game

Fashion photography did not catch on immediately. Although portraiture accounted for more than ninety percent of all photographs taken before 1900, most of them were taken with the intent solely to capture the realism of the subject. The camera was honest about faces, but often washed out clothing shades and patterns. Until the nineteen twenties, graphic images and oil paintings were the preferred method of fashion display.

This slow uptake can be illustrated by covers of the long established fashion magazine, Harper's Bazaar. Photography, which became established as a means of imagery in the eighteen fifties, did not immediately account for magazine illustrations, and certainly not covers. When Lincoln had his presidential portrait taken by photograph in 1865, it hadn't crossed the magazine at all.

In 1888, Harper's had it's first photographic cover. This was unprecedented at the time. Castiligone was in the height of her nearly avant-garde portraits when this very plain one highlighted the magazine. It would not be repeated again frequently for the next sixty years.

Harper's then continued their trend of lithographic or engraved covers. 1894 marked the first color cover--the magazine opted to pursue fashion in color rather than fashion in photographic accuracy. At this point in time, photographic portraiture was very much standard: but not in fashion.

Photographic covers resurfaced and thrived rather late--even for fashion publications. Harpers Bazaar stuck to tradition until the 1950's, when Richard Avedon, one of the earliest photographer celebrities, began fashion portraiture for the magazine. His images graced the cover of the publication more than thirty times between 1945 and 1965. This brought forth a new standard for Harper's Bazaar in which every cover since-other than the vintage throwback--now photography with variety, color, and a celebrity. 1987's issue is an Avedon throw-back with a close headshot, and April 2014's cover is a modern fashion portrait, with both the celebrity and a significant portion of the image devoted to the dress.

1954, a high school girl ties her scarf around her boyfriend's letter jacket. [life.com]

2009, the football players of Fox's Glee walk down their hallway in varsity jackets. [varsitysportsapparel.com]

Deep Wearing In The American High School

In their text "Renaissance Clothes and the Materials of Memory," Ann Jones and Peter Stallybrass coin the term "deep making" and "deep wearing." In the renaissance, clothes were made to be worm with a purpose. As we today have a few articles--wedding dresses and baptism gowns--nearly all garments in that time had a distinct purpose that marked the garment for others to know what it stood for. Deep wearing, then, is wearing garments with purpose, to let the garment define the self. In grieving, one may have worn dark dress and a veil for as long as that period may have been.

With the change of the garment industry into one of mass-produced, ever-changing styles, this concept was abandoned for "fast fashion," in which, instead of the garment displaying the person, the person displays the garment. Fast fashion has all but taken over the fashion industry as the primary means in which the fashion world changes and communicates.

However, tradition is not entirely lost. One of the best examples of deep wearing that still exists today is the varsity jacket. This garment, a frequent site in American high schools (and several college campuses) indicates which students are varsity athletes in which sports. Often, the addition of smaller pins and patches also indicate how many years, awards, conference events, and academic or musical excellence. It takes effort to earn one, and the garment is custom-made for unique color schemes, material combinations, and embroidery. Each garment is individualized for the athlete, and the jacket is expected to be kept and maintained for a lifetime. A garment is so customized and telling of the individual certainly constitutes "deep making."

The varsity jacket also exemplifies deep wearing. The student who wears the varsity jacket is expected to act a certain way. Athletes are often considered the top students in American high schools, both in popularity and expectaions. By putting on the varsity jacket, the student is held to the highest expectations, and acts accordingly. Deviating from the norm of a varsity student can be considered a betrayal of status.  This conflict is one central to the plot of the dramady Glee, in which the athletes and the glee club are often at each others throats. When the football players feel betrayed by one of their own, they strip him of his jacket. By doing so, they take away his identity as an athlete on the "top of the food chain."

In the beginning of the varsity jacket's legacy (and somewhat so today, though the trend has died down significantly), it had a second connotation as a way to distinguish who was dating whom. A boy would take one of his varsity pins off of his jacket to give to his girl as a sign of going steady (such as in the musical Bye-Bye Birdie)--or the reverse, a girl might give the boy a token to pin on his jacket. This trend of marking couples has survived in the form of sharing jackets and jerseys, with a boy giving a girl a piece of his athletic apparel to wear on game.

Although Jones and Stallybrass believe deep wearing to be an outdated trend, fragments of it still carry a strong tradition: varsity jackets, wedding dresses, Easter clothes, heirloom jewelry, uniforms (athletic, military, marching band), and religious garments. To claim that The Blue Man group isn't experiencing a form of deep wearing while in blue pain is simply preposterous. One can still become their dress.

This week, we spoke about the sort of double standard in artwork,  particularly in the form of the "tiger's leap" as quoted from Benjamin. What strikes me the most about this duality of history and modernity isn't, in fact, that it is revolutionary, but rather that it is something that we are still seeing today. For example, we can look at the revival of yesterday's trends--in this case, "mom jeans." 

Not only is it socially acceptable now to wear something once popular in the 80s and 90s, and then detested in the early 2000s, but it is actually encouraged. (See this article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2314938/Are-ready-return-mom-jeans-Topshop-revives-derided-baggy-high-waist-cut--style-set-love-it.html)

Therefore, we can apply this "tiger's leap" to present day. Not only are we wearing high-waisted jeans, but also modifying them to fit into modern culture by making them tighter and skinnier. This corresponds with David's updating of classical outfits to fit the standards of then-modern culture. 

I think that when one is criticizing fashion, it is important to outline the why above all else. What I mean by this is, essentially, that we should all be questioning the central purpose of clothing. Is it to shape the body, as Hollander believes, or is it to emphasize the body, as Hegel proclaims? 

Personally, I would say that it depends on the person. I think that clothing can be used to idealize the body, as is the case in A-line dresses, like the one below from American Apparel. 

This emphasizes the breasts but also slims the waist and smooths over the hips. It is, in effect, a combination of fitting the body and creating an appealing aesthetic. Therefore, I don't see fashion and drapery as being specifically used for one thing, but rather a means of accentuating what we have already and what we want to have.

--Sarah Kimmel