Clothes Can Talk!!
No, this is not the name of a B-film from the 1950s (although, that sounds like one of those films that would be so bad it's somehow good?). Instead, this is a post about how style and other visual elements are meaningful forms of discourse in creating and maintaining identity, such as, as is in the theme of this blog, lesbian gender.
Clothing and other visual identity markers are one way to communicate one's identity to the world. Style carries a lot of meaning in association, from cultural references and subcultural ties to stereotypical roles and ideologies. As such, clothing is a powerful form of discourse in the creation and maintenance of identity, community, and practise. Through the use of style, beauty, and other visual messages, "the body becomes part of a system of signification".
Style can also be used as a way to signify the characteristics that are important to a person or a community. Through the production of visual discourses of appearance, the connected meanings can be used in the construction of space, subcultural communities, and discourses that challenge hegemony. For example, in Lucy Jones' papers, there are frequent references to the Sapphic Stompers, a UK-based butch lesbian hiking group. Through the style of the members of the group and the stereotypes connected to their appearances, the group's collective identity as lesbians, feminists, hikers, and butches is projected.
Both butch (as with the Stompers) and femme are general identities that fall on a spectrum of different gender presentations and identities within the lesbian community. While these are the two most visible lesbian gender identities, there are many who do not identify as specifically femme or butch. However, similar discourses can be used to create other meanings regarding femininity, lesbianism, and the related roles, power dynamics, and agency associated with femininity, masculinity, and/or androgyny.
In the below videos by lesbian YouTubers Jessica Kellgren-Fozard and Stevie Boebi, there are a variety of different lesbian gender presentations explored and interpreted. The looks play off of different subcultures, stereotypes, and roles, and are all different expressions of femininity within lesbian gender identities.
As noted within this first video, different identity categories can be reflected through only clothing. For example, the first outfit ('dark cottagecore' - on the basis of the internet subculture of 'cottagecore') was first interpreted by Jessica as a 'Los Angeles witch' lesbian: a reflection of gender, sexual orientation, geography, and religion!
Each of the styles in these two videos is also a subversion of hegemonic and heteronormative femininity. The outfits are being worn by feminine people, commenting on different presentations of femininity, in a way that mirrors lesbian desire, power, and ideologies.
However, the meanings indexed by the visual styles are contextually based. Performance does not depend on the actions of the speaker (or wearer), but instead on the forms and meanings that exist elsewhere. If these outfits were worn in different places, or when interacting with different people, the interpretations of the styles may be different. However, in any case, these outfits will carry meaning to both the wearer, as well as the viewer.
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