literature
Buttoned-Up
by
Gert Jonkers & Jop van Bennekom
This book is about the culture of buttoning-up one’s shirt collar to the top and what it means to do/not do this. The book itself is a physical representation of the buttoned-up culture: crisp, clean, and neat – and is even the same colour white as a standard shirt. This book greatly excited me with all its descriptions of clothes and how one tiny detail can alter an entire outfit’s communication.
Clothing as Communication
by
Lawrence B. Rosenfeld & Timothy G. Plax
Another piece of literature I read for this project is this interesting article, first published in 1977. The article is a write-up of a research project carried out by Rosenfeld and Plax to analyse the relationship between clothing and personality, specifically between males and females. The study builds on a strong basis of research on similar subjects, giving their work a high degree of authenticity. Their work includes an extensive agree/disagree “Clothing questionnaire” (1) that participants were required to answer. This list of questions, alongside their “Summary of clothing and personality relationships” (2) table gives my project a similar basis to what Rosenfeld and Plax had.
Clothing, Identity and the Embodiment of Age
by
Julia Twigg
The relationship between clothing and identity is also addressed in this article, which relays the fact that clothing once stood for a person's social class; the more money a person had, the better their clothes. However, Twigg does mention that the dominance of money in the fashion industry is now being challenged as more identities surface (3). This article, thusly, gives a setting for my project to explore - what other factors are involved in the relationship between our choices in clothing and our identities and attitudes?
Fashion as Communication
by
Malcolm Barnard
This book addresses the concept of 'Reproduction in Society' and how Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze can be applied to the fashion industry (4). I enjoyed how something that could be argued so menial was discussed with such academic credit. It also makes some good points on voyeurism which I considered.
References
(1) & (2) Rosenfeld, L. B. and Plax, T. G. (2006) ‘Clothing as Communication’, Journal of Communication, 27(2), pp. 24-31. doi: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.1977.tb01823.x
(3) Twigg, J. (2009) ‘Clothing, Identity and the Embodiment of Age’, Aging and Identity: A Postmodern Dialogue, pp. 93-104. ISBN: 978-1-60741-191-8
(4) Barnard, M. (2002) Fashion as Communication. London: Routledge.
Additional
Jonkers, G. and Bennekom, J. (2013) Buttoned-Up. London: Penguin Group.
Image Credits
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/183794/buttoned-up/
file:///Users/shakti-rose/Downloads/RosenfeldPlax.ClothingasCommunication.1977%20(1).pdf
http://www.actyourage.eu/uploads/files/clothing_identity_and_the_embodiment_of_age.pdf
http://www.styleclicker.net/2011/03/02/fashion-as-communication-by-malcolm-bernard/