Fashion and Semiotics Essay

Since many people were jostling to get into upper society, certain rules regarding etiquette and dress

Vikash Kumar Mandaiya Prof. Juhi Text and Textiles 28thApril 2015 Importance of headwear in Charlotte Bronte’s “Villette” During 19th century, headwear (including caps, bonnets and hats) were aspects of everyday fashion. There were books and articles, published to justify the significance of headwear, for instance, “Hats Off” a satirical article which addresses the increasing influence of hats at that time. Many novelist of that period also appear to be concerned with headwear. So, in this paper I am investigating the significance of headwear in 19th century society through the novel by a female author (Villette by Charlotte Bronte).

Fashion reflects the attitudes of a society more than any other art form. Like art, fashion is a material record of the ideals that swayed the nations at the time of their creation. Through examining the styles, and tastes of a particular era, we can realize where the interests and priorities of a time lie. As Frank Parsons wrote in his 1920 study, The Psychology of Dress, "There is surly no better field in which to trace the devious paths of human thought than in that of clothes, where man has ever given free play to self expression, in a way which, thought not always a credit to his intelligence, is yet quite true to his innermost self, whether he will acknowledge it or

Ever since the middle ages, social status was of great significance, attained through birth. Certain prestigious clothing was reserved for a high class, serving as a distinction between members of the population. Young Jee Han Joseph C. Nunes, a doctoral student of marketing , & Xavier Drèze, an associate professor of marketing, identify in their article “Signaling Status with Luxury Goods: The Role of Brand Prominence” that historically “sumptuary laws specified in minute detail what each social class was permitted and forbidden to wear, including the maximum price an article of clothing could cost” (Han). Take for instance the kings and nobility of France, who expressed their political power and superiority through use of luxury. Today, the situation remains somewhat similar: according to Sirgy in his “Journal of Consumer Research”, social class is “defined as when a consumer acquires market resources to accentuate their belonging to a specific social group, in order to display their desired identity or a part of their desired identity to others” (qtd in Signaling Status with Luxury Goods) . According to Young Jee Han, Joseph C. Nunes & Xavier Drèze, “today, anyone can own a purse, a watch, or a pair of shoes, but specific brands of purses, watches, and shoes are a distinguishing feature for certain classes of consumers”(Han), proof that

No longer did people wear what they used to- Clothing became increasingly fashionable, personal, and stylish rather than a bare necessity. Belts, pins, sashes, laces, corsets, gemstones- Things were evolving, things we use to this day were being created thanks to these early fashion connoisseurs. But when the industrial revolution hit, things headed back to the way they were. Simpler, less unique clothing for the common man. However, the process of ready-making clothing came about. No longer was a tailor a part of the process for your everyday clothing. You could purchase, at a much cheaper price than a tailor charged, clothing in one of several sizes.

Clothing took on tremendous importance during this time, and it showed through what social class wore what, and had a way of shaping one’s identity (Covington 27). The clothes that were worn in this time

During our life we construct many different identities of who we want to portray ourselves as to the rest of society; fashion plays a vital role in generating who we are. With the ideas from Storry and Childs they state that “the way that we dress can either serve to confirm or to subvert various facets of our identities, such as our gender,

Society is constructed in such a way that some people become inferior to other people because of how society treats certain individuals. Fashion has become a catalyst that leaves a gap between the lower class and the upper class; this brings out the aspect of social structure as it ranks categories of people in a hierarchy,( Macious & Plummer, 2008).Bourdieu’s concepts of field, habitus, social capital and cultural capital gives an illustration of the elite and the lower class in terms of their fashion taste. This essay consists of three parts; the first part will look at the London Fashion Week applying Bourdieu’s concepts, the second part will describe the difference sorts of capital required for elite women to join the ‘secret club’ of

On the contrary of the last photo, the suits on these people disclosed their social status, experience and power. Then he talked about the three peasants again and said their suit was not suitable for their physical bodies. He said their hands were too big, their bodies were too thin, and their legs were too shorts. They wore their hats assuming that they suited them. People may regarded they could not afford the good suits and did not know how to wear them. However, Berger tried to explain this phenomenon by introducing the term “class hegemony”. He stated that the majority of peasants needed to do a lots hard physical work and they were likely to have some apparent physical features, such as broad hands and broad shoulders. This rhythm is directly to the energy demanded by the amount of work which has to be done in a day, and is reflected in typical physical movements and stance” (Berger, 1980). That is to say their acquired labor works led to the development of their physical characteristics. Therefore, the fancy clothes was a little inconsistent with the state that they displayed. Initially, the clothes of the peasant may fit in their body image. With time passed by, the clothes became loose in general because the peasants were likely to become thin with the hard work all day long. Many of them would not send the clothes

1. Go to a public place and OBSERVE the community of people in that place for at least 30 minutes; perhaps as long as 60 minutes. In your report, describe the setting and note the date and time of your observation. Describe the element of “community” that you observed.

During Ancient China periods, clothing symbolized the Clothing symbolized the harmonious relationship between social class and its citizens. Each member of society dressed differently form each other. For example, peasants and regular citizens dressed differently from high-ranked officials. “The high-ranked officials dressed in the finest silk for public outings and celebrations, and less expensive clothes at home. The peasants wore a long shirt like garment, made of un-dyed hemp fiber, which altered little until modern times (Ancient China for Kids: Clothing. (n.d.)). In addition to higher officials and Peasants clothing, peasant’s men wore baggy pants made of hemp with a loose cotton shirt. Women, who were peasants, wore simple wool garments in the winter and cotton in the spring. Peasant children wore children size of their parent’s clothes (Ancient China for Kids: Clothing. (n.d.)).

Clothing styles and fabrics varied throughout each area and climate in Medieval Europe (Clothing). Moreover, the clothing and fashion during the Medieval Era of the Middle Ages was greatly influenced by the Kings and Queens (Medieval Peasant Clothing). Sumptuary Laws passed by numerous towns and realms regulated the style and fabric that medieval people could put on. In various places, certain colors and costly fabrics were saved particularly for the king and for nobles (Clothing). Furthermore, the Sumptuary Laws restricted people in the amount of money that they spent on clothing (Medieval Peasant Clothing). For several centuries the normal wear for men and women was simply uniform. For instance, the simple articles dressed by all were the tunic, extended with detachable sleeves and commonly seen covered by a cape, and the cotehardie, a king garment that cascased down to the thighs and was tied by a drawstring hung at the neck. Clothing was very fascinating indeed, as “With these common clothing types, there were many indications carried by one’s costume that marked the wearer’s social status, profession, nationality, and even religion”. Without a doubt, simply what someone wore could represent almost everything about them. Secondly, clothing also varied in accordance with what day of the week it was; how much work one had to do. It was quite easy to distinguish from the poor who constantly worked on the fields, and the wealthy who had all their time to spare--”The most expensive clothes were manufactured from velvet, silk, or brocade (fabric woven with a raised pattern); were decorated with colored embroidery with floral or geometric designs; were trimmed with fur; were highlighted with jewelry, feathers, and liripipes (long, thin pendants)”. The wealthy thought highly of themselves, and liked to portray that

During the Elizabethan time period, in order to understand a person’s life style including clothes, we must first understand how the society at that time worked. The Elizabethan society was divided into three classes, first upper class including nobles and royalty, second middle class or hard-working class, and finally lower class or peasants. The availability of fabrics, colors, and designs were extremely limited for lower class compared to upper class who has unlimited access to a variety of expansive fabrics and colors. These divisions in clothing were stated in the Sumptuary Laws or also known as

During the Regency era appearance was extremely important. If a woman arrived at a party under or overdressed she would be mocked and ridiculed for days by other women. Since propriety was valued as well, those who were dressed scandalously would be avoided by others to safeguard their reputation. Appearance was also and indicator of social status and wealth, which determined whether or not a person was

According to Alchin (2014) “Clothing and fashion like everything else during the Middle Ages was dictated by the Pyramid of Power which was the Feudal System. Clothing provided information about the status of the person wearing them” (Medieval Clothing section, para. 1). Because of fashion—the art of clothing, they had classified the members of the society according to what they wear. Fashion during the medieval ages does exist not because of people’s idea of expression through the clothes their wear but rather their emphasis of their label in the society; because powerful people want to grasp power by seeing emphasis on the state of being of the people who has a lower quality of life than them, thus making them feel powerful. But how do they maintain looking more superior to lower class of people? As stated by Alchin