One of the perks of my college has to be the extensive art library. There are art & design sections in most libraries yes, but it's just quite nice to be able to peruse the bookshelves or look at some magazine archives in the confines of college. Of course, I don't have a great deal of time in which I can browse for fun as, more often than not, the time in the library is for researching a particular project. That said, I am easily distracted by the fashion and textiles section - hey, I've got to keep my mind absorbing information before (fingers crossed) uni interviews next year!
Upon one of my distracted moments, I stumbled upon a book called Understanding Fashion by Elizabeth Rouse. I've no idea what made me decide to pick it up, other than the fact that I thought it might be interesting. The blurb reads:
Wearing clothes, fashionable or not, is part of our social behaviour. Yet students of fashion are not given the opportunity to examine the social and cultural significance of clothing and fashion, nor to assess the influence that social changes have on styles of dress and on the development of the fashion industry ... However, the book is also a good introduction for anyone wishing to explore fashion from a sociological perspective.Well, I was sold on that and promptly decided to borrow it to read. I remember speaking to a girl at college a week before this event, who, when I asked to read a book she'd placed on the table, said "it's not got many pictures" in a disdainful way. Well, if she didn't like the text-oriented nature of that book (whatever it was, I forget now), she most certainly won't like this one. Personally, I am fond of the written word not just imagery (the book does contain a few illustrations and photographs never fear), so I hold no objections to Rouse's predominant use of text.
The book is essentially a careful study of clothing in relation to social context. I say clothing because although there is a focus on fashionable styles, it does tend to take a broader view of clothing as a whole. Following the path of mainly female (though there are references to male fashions) clothing patterns and relating it to, in particular, changes in British society.
In the world, there are a great many nay-sayers of fashion. Those who claim "Clothes aren't important/I don't care what I wear" - well, the next person who says that to me, I'm probably going to end up barking the first 3 chapters of Rouse's book at them! Before delving into the crooks of the book (i.e. fashion), Rouse attempts to identify the various reasons why humans choose to wear clothing. Identifying protection, modesty, attraction and communication as the 4 key reasons with chapters 2 & 3 discussing communication further, in terms of society and the individual. Without wanting to tell you too much (on the off-chance one of you decides to read it), these chapters are certainly useful in articulating the reasons why clothing - or simply body adornment - forms an important part of our world. The need to protect ourselves from the elements, the need to preserve our modesty, the need to attract in a manner similar to the peacock and the need to communicate ourselves, our aspirations or conform to the social groups we belong to. Clothing in a context quite apart from the animal that is fashion.
The chapters following these (4-12) shift the focus toward the title of the book, understanding fashion. Attempting to show fashion not as a product of the 'creative genius' of designers, but as a product of the whims, values and structure of society. Starting in Victorian Britain with a rigid hierarchical structure and flowing through 20th Century Britain to the 1980s (it was published in 1989, so cannot discuss post-80s). Though she is not able to highlight the highly complex and broad nature of cultural changes, Rouse readily highlights the role of the female throughout the text. Discussing disposable income, political changes, the perception of women etc. Similarly, later chapters deal with the evolution of mass-market consumerism and the growth and influence of youth culture, relating it to the relative contribution in 'fashion'. On the surface, it may appear as 'just clothes', but in my humble opinion, it is much more in-depth than that. And the fact that Rouse has managed to articulate a small fraction of this complicated business in 310 pages is astounding to me!
Upon concluding the text, I felt that it was a useful read indeed. Not simply for someone, such as myself, studying my way into fashion (design); but for anyone who has the remotest interest in clothing as a 'social phenomena' in history. Since I already viewed clothing as something rooted in societal changes, I found that, whilst my mind was not completely blown, I did learn a little more about history and in particular, the female role. There are elements of fashion which you come to understand from observing or partaking in it, but simply cannot be explain in a straight-forward way - Rouse, much to my delight, has succeeded in articulating the majority of these ideas in a very easy-to-read way. Whilst I feel you do not need to read the book to necessarily understand that fashion stems not just from the artistic ability of certain designers but from a combination of different things, it is an interesting and surprisingly not too outdated read.
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