Lecture reflection task
The lecture that personally inspired me the most is how power and fashion connect. This lecture started a conversation about power within fashion. This particular quote stuck with me, “fashion is very individual, but it is a manifestation of the culture that we live in and often who we want to be, how we want to be seen by the rest of the world.” Orsola de Castro, Fashion Revolution. That made me think about how everyone really ultimately dresses to perform a version of themselves they want other people to see in order to be respected, for example a High School teacher, may be the goofiest person with the funniest personality but in order to gain respect from their students they have a dress code they must stick to. Same goes for the CEO of a business or even business students, dressing formally is a most to convey seriousness and smartness to whoever you interact with even though you may not exactly be that person when you are not clocked in.
This way of thinking can also trickle down into personal style, stereotypical straight men are thought to dress in a way that doesn’t show you’ve put too much effort in, as that would translate into them being too feminine (as physical perfection it is usually seen as a feminine trait) therefore leading to lack of respect from another men. Whereas on the other hand women want to look extremely perfect to give the impression of being rich ladies in their prime, even though that may not always be the case.
This had me thinking about who really runs these gender roles when talking about fashion and power. If we were to base this conversation of today’s media, it is clear that Music inspired the average men’s style more, for example Stormzy or Dave, both styles are very laid back, people respect them, and they come off as bosses and ladies like that. Therefore, the sportier you appear to be the more people will build a whole persona for you in their heads, which may be completely wrong however that is the exact persona you wanted to give off.
Same goes for women with the Kardashians.
The lecture was very insightful, because it really made me analyse more critically how and why people dress how they do, from workplace, to night outs. It also made me look at fashion shows differently, I can now look at show and realise who is their clothes for, how they want their customer to feel, what message their sending and what the brand in itself stands. All these shows how much political power fashion can have.