fashion + time + status

What motivates fashion? Pick three readings (Veblen plus two either of the required or optional ones) and describe how the author sees the function of fashion.

according to veblen, the motivation for fashion is three-fold: (1) as an external signal of conspicuous consumption through the display of a conspicuous waste of goods (a "requirement of expensiveness"), (2) as garments as frivolous and unpractical as possible to correlate restriction-of-body-for-manual-labor with increased amounts of leisure time + prestige, and (3) a medium in which to renew, and therefore repeatedly sink expenses into, with every update and redefinition of what is vogue. the combination of clothes incorporating constant change and making work impossible results in a facade which pronounces silently and effectively, i am of higher status; i may indulge in leisure more so than you.

i especially enjoy his detail within the scope of women's clothing. the high heels, the corsets, the skirts, all coordinate to produce a woman who becomes a decorated object, dressed to illustrate her life of being taken-well-care-of and as a harbinger of her husband's / family's percuniary status. she displays her consumption on her sleeve. in a way, it is her implicit responsibility to restrict her physical self in order to seal the 'insignia of leisure' of unnecessary expensiveness, impossibility of work, and renewal of trendy ornamentation.

within davis' article on fashion, he infuses more of a cultural meaning within the symbolic items of clothing, of external choice. clothing becomes a code for which both signaller and receiver must define and redefine as time, and thus culture and meaning, shifts. he writes that the meaning and reading of fashion incorporates ambiguity, context-dependency, high social variability, and undercoding. the ambiguous encodings stem from the fact that fashion, by definition, changes temporally; therefore, the interpretation of one given symbol may differ at different marked times. context-dependency relates to the fact that although the symbols may be the same and the signals held constant, the surrounding environment affects the reading of the symbols; the interpretation of signals varies across audiences. differentiation or contrast from 'an other' creates the social stratification; this classifies the 'this' versus the 'that' and fuels a structure that implies, 'if i choose this trend, i am choosing against that trend.' and finally, the undercoding of messages within the meaning of clothing hints to the subtle, almost imperceptible, emotional and aesthetic reflection hidden within the stylish elements.

basically, fashion feeds + teases the 'identity instabilities' of the underlying culture, and alters the code accordingly to change with the tide. the external shell provides a display in which individuals can silently communicate with others their social identity through an immediately impressed, sensed mode of clothing choices. the idea of 'being in style' and 'fitting in' points toward the human instinct to seek the similar and express our identities through a 'strong collective component,' that being fashion. the collective human experiences of which internally fester emerge as publicly visible signals.

the paper by suzuki on kogals had an interesting spin on fashion that both subverted veblen's pecuniary thesis a bit as it pushed a bit further than 'encoding culture' on oneself as described by davis. here, the trendsetters weren't fabulously rich or trying to display any sort of insignia of leisure; they were merely high-school girls with some pocket change to spare. although they had an increase of leisure time in comparison to the previous members of the generation (decrease in college cut-throat admissions == less pressure to spend time studying), and occasional members earned an income through sexual entrepreneurship, the girls spent most of their discretionary income on inexpensive items and smaller products. however, the most influential component of the kogal trend frenzy was the informational infrastructure that supported the transfer of information among the social network. internally, mobile phones, txt msgs, and pagers provided immediate communication within the kogal circle; externally, mass media such as magazines and television highlighted the newest kogal trends. hello kitty, tamagotchi, and slouched socks were signals of fashionableness, constantly reaffirmed and renewed as the network collectively assigned favorable signals. other generations, easily aware of the kogal trends through media coverage of sexual scandals, could adapt, react, or follow the trends as reflection on the kogal lifestyle. the most salient motivation of fashion in this case of kogals in japan in the 1990's involves the quick, easily-consumed electronic flow of information within the trendsetters and into general mass infiltration.

Think back to last year, before the election. Describe the Democratic primary race in terms of fashion. What constitutes the status hierarchy among candidates and supporters? What are the signals, their costs? What changes over time?

yikes; although i lived right across the street from where 'hardball with chris mathews' was taped + produced, i was (and still am) completely oblivious to the entire political scene. sad but true.

however, a general hierarchy will follow.

(shortly.)

How are fashions embodied in blogs? In addition to reading the Adar et al paper, you may want to look at sites such as blogdex, Technorati, etc.

blogdex displays 'the most contagious information currently spreading in the weblog community.' it showcases the fastest spreading ideas, constructing the 'top list' through links and trackbacks. daypop categorizes link popularity by "citations to that blog, or how many other bloggers link to that blog. And two, as the probability that a user randomly hopping from blog to blog will encounter that blog." in real-time, technorati tracks the number of links, and the perceived relevance of blogs, as well as the real-time nature of blogging. popdex posts the most popular links on the internet, and incorporates the popularity of linking sites into the rankings.

blogs are the online version of newsbyte wildfire; a popular blog may post about something fascinating, and suddenly it's all over the internet as other bloggers mention it on their sites, (hopefully) trackbacking the link through the intermediary (the via). since most regular bloggers also scan other's blogs, members of the network constantly crisscross ideas and comments. hence, the latest + greatest items update within a matter of seconds, and soonafter show up on one of these blog popularity index sites that list the 'most popular links' on the internet.

the lifespan of a link or blogposting becomes incredibly ephemeral. a novel idea sprouts, and as it spreads rapidly, bloggers and web surfers alike consume the content practically the moment it's hatched. once the link shows up on something like blogdex, the high popularity index infers that the circulation of content is high. but, as the concept of fashion is defined by change from the status quo, heavy circulation leads to mass consumption, leads to saturation, leads to seeking the next best thing. the instantaneous nature of electronic publishing by the masses has led the turnover rate of fashion to real-time.