Kill the Bitch, Collections on Fashion
I was very skeptical when I picked up this tie dye book, Fashion Talks: Undressing the Power of Style edited by Shira Tarrant and Marjorie Jolles, and found it to be a collection of essays. As I read the works from the sixteen authors, (ranging from being a Director in Law, to an evolutionary biologist, to a Fashion Theory Coordinator) I found each and every one captivating to a level that is unexplainable.
You must be questioning me. Essays? Captivating? Let’s just say that when I sat down with this book, I read the first few sections almost immediately. I couldn’t put it down and was drawn to the way that the controversial topics were discussed and how they all revolved around the simple theme of fashion choices.
My absolute favourite line that gives a hint as to how the rest of this book is written is a quote from Andrea Dworkin written into the first essay by Astrid Henry: “So here’s the deal as I see it: I am ambitious -- God knows, not for the money; in most respects but not all am I horrible; and I wear overalls: kill the bitch.” Just reading this one sentence can tell you this is far from your average dry, academic read.
“Singular fashion style...seemed to go against the greater freedom and diversity of expression sought by the women's movement” and with feminists, like Dworkin, expressing the need for change and equality, fashion changed. Unisex clothing was created, which was both a positive and negative creation as this essay explains. It can be argued that unisex clothing did nothing to improve equality with it being menswear fashioned for women. Unisex clothing did and does have a positive though, or Dworkin wouldn't wear unisex overalls; it allowed women to wear a broader range in styles.
“Kill the bitch” became an idea that surrounded Dworkin. She was a very opinionated feminist and blatantly explained her style as “I don’t give a fuck what you think of me. ” This is the idea that overalls held (kill the bitch for wearing her overalls) along with being a symbol fore feminists at the time.
Dworkin and her overalls demonstrated how clothing gives someone there identity. It was her overalls and the way she portrayed herself in an uncaring way that made her be viewed as a bitch, but not only that, overalls made her into what a feminist were supposed to be during the 1970’s and 1980’s.
Each one of the fourteen essays has a unique voice that pulls you into the cause that the author addresses. Topics from the lifestyle lolitas, haute couture, baby bumps, steampunk and strippers are analysed in a way that makes you ponder the confinements that style places on us depending on race, gender, sexuality and culture. Just as the authors say right in the introduction, “Fashion is symbolic, expressive, creative, and coercive...We love it. We hate it. We debate it.”
Something Borrowed Something Blue, What’s an Indie Bride to Do does just that. This essay by Elline Lipkin starts off with what is accepted and traditional concerning brides. “There’s the bride’s symbolic re-virginization through...wearing white...the bouquet toss that assumes all women want to get married, and the garter removal (with the bride’s symbolic stripping done for entertainment purposes and...the groom’s assumed sexual prowess)” (180) Not only does this essay look at the traditions of weddings, but also how these items are made.
More expensive bridal gown can represent being from a higher class, which cheap gowns bought
online are for the poor. Price then brings up the topic of sweatshops which brides do not think about on or around their special day. To make a cheap wedding gown, you need cheap labour, and to get cheap labour, you run a sweatshop. Lipkin brings up couture gowns that are presented down a runway, handcrafted by a designer and their small team of seamstresses, to be made for that one bride, eliminating the unethical use of sweatshops; the problem though, they cost a small fortune. To get around both of these issues, ethics and economics, Lipkin brings up the DIY bride along with the Offbeat Bride which the indie brides goal is. She brings up how it is possible to fuse tradition with new ideas and create clothing that is specifically designed to meet and match a person's views along with getting people to ponder what they really are wearing and why.
When you think about it, we get dressed every day but never consider the outfits we wear in the way of, how does our choice project who we are and also in the way of, why do we wear them? When most of us do think about our clothing, we consider if we look good, especially for a job interview or a date, but not why we think we look good.
This book gets you involved in the choices of fashion and why we make them. It looks at what it means to dress like a punk, a feminist, or a mother, and how cultures judge how these should be portrayed. “This book is an invaluable source of new scholarship” (Maria Elena Buszak) on the subject that will have tremendous appeal to those interested in gender studies, popular culture, and their sartorial expression” Maria Elena Buszak, the author of Pin-Up Grrrls: Feminism, Sexuality, Popular Culture, says.
There are so many levels to fashion concerning choice that we do not explore. This book covers concepts directed towards people in the industry and to the average reader with how it looks at the confinements, freedoms, power and identity that our clothing gives us.
