Getting Dressed: Gender, Identity, and Expression
Student Type
Graduate
College Affiliation
College of Arts and Humanities
Department
Art History and Visual Culture
Submission Type
Oral Presentation
Abstract
In October 2021, a newyorktimes.com article called The End of Gender: Has Fashion Bid the Binary Goodbye? discussed gender agnosticism — “girlie” clothes in bright colors, soft fabrics, and lots of decoration worn by both women and men.Meanwhile, celebrities such as Jonathan Majors and Harry Styles are criticized for wearing clothes other people don’t think are appropriate. Majors has been “emasculated” and Styles is accused of queerbaiting. My research examines the distance between these two views of gendered fashion — “everyone should get to wear everything” vs. “disconnect from yourself to please others” — through multiple lenses: semiotics, Victorian era rules and expectations around gender, the complexities of identity. I also show how mass media encourages people to consume material culture by connecting getting dressed to self-expression, while social norms make it difficult for self-expression to occur — because ambiguous or unconventional identities create discomfort.
Recommended Citation
Franz, Laura, "Getting Dressed: Gender, Identity, and Expression" (2023). 2023 Student Academic Showcase. 5.
https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/src_2023/Oral_Presentations/Session2/5
Getting Dressed: Gender, Identity, and Expression
In October 2021, a newyorktimes.com article called The End of Gender: Has Fashion Bid the Binary Goodbye? discussed gender agnosticism — “girlie” clothes in bright colors, soft fabrics, and lots of decoration worn by both women and men.Meanwhile, celebrities such as Jonathan Majors and Harry Styles are criticized for wearing clothes other people don’t think are appropriate. Majors has been “emasculated” and Styles is accused of queerbaiting. My research examines the distance between these two views of gendered fashion — “everyone should get to wear everything” vs. “disconnect from yourself to please others” — through multiple lenses: semiotics, Victorian era rules and expectations around gender, the complexities of identity. I also show how mass media encourages people to consume material culture by connecting getting dressed to self-expression, while social norms make it difficult for self-expression to occur — because ambiguous or unconventional identities create discomfort.
Comments
Due to my location (Massachusetts) and my work schedule (I teach almost all day on Thursdays), I would need a livestream session for my oral presentation after 3:30pm if you can accommodate that. If you can't, I understand. Thank you!