C8: Clothes

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Image consultants

If you want to make it big nowadays, you have to have
your own image consultant. They will tell you where to shop,
what to wear, how to do your hair, how to act, what
mannerisms to adopt and avoid, how to smile, how to frown,
what to say, how to say it, when to say it and when to keep quiet. Their job is to make you look good. You pay them to teach you what today's society likes and dislikes. There are obvious moral questions here of synthetic personalities, carbon copying people and the loss of individuality, but you can work those out for yourself. The really fascinating point is what these image consultants will tell you about the relative importance of your appearance, your poise and what you say. According to major studies (they'll tell you), what makes a good impression on another person depends, percentage-wise, on the following:

55% on how you look
38% on how you act
7% on what you say

This is very interesting. It means that most people judge you before you open your mouth or even make a move! Before you say a single word, most people have a pretty good idea of what they think of you! First impressions clearly have a huge effect. The question is whether they can be changed when you get to know a person. If society begins to rely more and more on image consultants, then it could be that what we say will become less and less important, and how we look will become our main asset. Is that something to worry about?

Uniforms

Armies need uniforms for obvious practical reasons, but they also have the effect of making soldiers follow orders and conform to a regimented disciple. Shaving heads and enforcing a strict dress code are very successful methods of controlling others because they suppress a person's individuality. An institution will enforce uniforms if it wants to create a uniform product. Armies want good, obedient soldiers, schools want successful, efficient pupils and prisons want rehabilitating, stable inmates. You will find that the more that uniforms are strictly adhered to, the more that individuality is stifled.

There are other kinds of uniforms which are more subtle. Most societies develop certain dress codes which soon become the norm. Today, we have well defined office wear, sports wear, clubbing wear, formal wear and so on. These don't feel like uniforms because no one imposes them on us. But they are uniforms of a kind because we impose them on ourselves. We want to fit in and be accepted by society so we conform to what is worn. True, there are practical considerations that go into sports wear, but there is a lot of fashion in it too. We like to wear the 'right' outfits, the 'good' makes, and if we can afford it, the 'right' designer labels. Thus there are many types of uniforms in our society.

Fashion

Can we become too clothes conscious? The fact is, fashion can become an obsession. Fashion trends are constantly changing. Nothing goes out of fashion faster than fashion itself. This means that people can spend much of their lives trying to keep up with what's 'in' and 'cool'. When people look back to what they were wearing just five years ago, they are often very surprised. Have at look in an old family wardrobe and you'll be amazed!.It can be very funny to look at past fashions and styles, although at the time they weren't amusing at all! Look at the pop videos of the past. The eighties, seventies and sixties all had their particular 'look' just like they had their own particular music. (see JPB II:7) In the nineties fashions are much more varied. Nearly anything goes. But still, when we look back in a few years time, we will probably be a little embarrassed at what we see.

Curse of the catwalk

February 1997 saw a real fashion victim. Davide Sorrenti, who had a promising career as a fashion photographer, died of a heroin overdose. He had been taking heroin for about eight months, one drug of many that is readily available in the fashion world. His mother, Francesca Sorrenti, has worked in the fashion industry for nearly 30 years, as a successful and respected designer, stylist and photographer. Her son's death has spurred her into action. She is revealing, as publicly as possible, the drug problem in the fashion industry.

In April 1997, Sorrenti wrote an open letter to high-profile glossy fashion magazines in both America and Europe. In it she alleged that young models are regularly given cocaine for Xmas, and accused spectators at shows of laughing at the sight of a model stumbling down the catwalk out of her head on drink and drugs. She urged agencies, photographers and magazine editors not to use unsupervised underage models, or those who take drugs or encourage others to do so. "We must clean up our own house," she wrote. "It is time to establish rules that will protect children in a profession that has no laws." Sorrenti knows she has an uphill struggle. Pressure, exhaustion and the promise of big bucks is making fashion an immoral and deadly game.

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