Everyday Dress

I must say I struggled to understand many of this week’s readings and make connections between them. When I read Durkheim’s “What is a Social Fact” and Pratt’s “Jazzercise,” I kept returning to the thought about how we view people in terms of what they wear. I thought about how clothing is such a big part of our everyday lives and how it affects our perception of others. Often we make judgments regarding one’s status, position, and importance based on what their attire is—a uniform, formal wear, sportswear, etc. This first impression can be so strong that we do not question or consider anything else about the person. Durkheim writes, “If I do not submit to the conventions of society, if in my dress I do not conform to the customs observed in my country and in my class, the ridicule I provoke, the social isolation in which I am kept, produce, although in an attenuated form, the same effects as a punishment in the strict sense of the word” (2-3). I think Durkheim’s statement is quite telling, in that, many dress a certain way in order to avoid others’ ridicule but also to avoid others questioning their status in society. In today’s world, we accept that uniforms command a certain amount of respect and authority, but particular types of clothing that are worn everyday also promote different attitudes towards those who wear, for example, “gang-like attire” may suggest violence and promote fear whereas designer name clothing may suggest wealth and promote desire. Even people who participate in certain forms of exercise when they wear a type of clothing evoke assumptions by others. As Pratt says, “The first domain of specialization, predictably, is clothes, as with most leisure activities in this culture” 214). This hybrid form of dance and exercise cannot escape from the clothing labels and as with every other piece of clothing an assumption about those who wear them follows. All of this reminds me of a scene in the movie “Sweet November” (a bit of a sappy romance) when one of the main characters takes another character’s very expensive suit and swaps them with a homeless man’s pants and shirt. Her point is that they are just clothes and do not symbolize who one is underneath. I have always thought about this and as much as I do not want to buy into the importance of what I wear, I also do not want to go against the “norms” that society has so effectively ingrained in us for centuries. Kristin