I'm taking this class on the history of Renaissance Italy. It's a cool class; I enjoy learning about the towers of Florence, factionalism in Northern Italy, Papal Rome, the Greeks (woohoo!) and Muslims in Southern Italy. I had a lot of reading this week and, like everyone else I know, I had little time to do it. As I struggled to stay awake and complete my assignment, I came to a joyous realization.
My reading was on fashion! To be exact, my reading was by some scholar named Hughes and her analysis of "Sumptuary Law and Social Relations in Renaissance Italy." It was exciting -- I got to read about the prohibition of certain articles of clothing, and I got to explore the question of why these articles of clothing (not to mention accessories) were forbidden, which leads me to my first question: Why do we forbid certain articles of clothing and not others?
For example, some high schools have strict dress codes. You're not allowed to show your stomach, or you're not allowed to wear short skirts. I think these rules were directed toward girls and implemented, as some of my teachers and administrators said, so as not to "distract" the opposite sex.
I wonder if boys actually find this insulting. I mean, I would be insulted if some person of authority thought I was dim enough to be distracted by a little leg. "Oh no, she's wearing a tight little dress, I'm going to fail this test now!" Does that actually happen? Other high schools have even stricter dress codes. Are schools actually allowed to do this? Are universities? Based on what I've seen on Grounds, I don't think that U.Va. has any type of dress code. So, can schools monitor what you wear because you're under 18?
There's also the whole "you can't wear anything that promotes drugs or alcohol" thing. Maybe this is primarily a public school phenomenon, but I know some private schools have this rule as well. Does wearing a shirt with a Corona on it mean you're an alcoholic? Does a shirt with a curse word on it mean you're a bad person? It's hard to draw the line. If wearing something automatically means you promote it, think of the implications: Everything you wear would be an indication of who you are as a person.
Under some circumstances, perhaps this "clothes as a definition of self" idea holds true. For example, wearing a sorority shirt usually means you are affiliated with that specific organization of sisterhood, good times and uncontrolled debauchery (just kidding). But think of the possibilities. Wearing J.Crew means you're a prep, popping your collar means you're a southern conservative, sporting O'Neill means you surf, Adidas equals soccer, Nike equates to running. I could go on and on. Your clothing and fashion choices would become a veritable prison; a simple outfit you picked out this morning in the dark could come to define your identity.
Am I overreacting? We are judged every day by our peers, our professors, our loved ones, people on the street, by administrators who make up rules for high schoolers. Doesn't this bother you? As my sociology professor said today in class, "we have to acknowledge that in this master principle, labels are part of life. We all give them, we all get them, we all ask for them."
Do we really ask for them though?
Another little nugget from my reading implies that we may be given labels and be monitored because of our vanity.
"Vanity will always invent more ways of distinguishing itself than the laws are able to forbid," Etienne Giraudias wrote.
Our vanity, our selfish desire to distinguish ourselves from others and perhaps appear to be better (yet another label) than others, drives us to break the rules.
Perhaps our vanity moves us to break simple rules of fashion dictated many times by social convention, or to break school dress code rules, or simply to surprise peers by an offbeat outfit or -- wow -- by wearing something besides Rainbow sandals with every outfit possible (okay, sorry, I'll stop). Fashion, to me, is on a constant drive forward. Therefore, people without a true sense of style -- whether innate or learned -- are slaves to the next trend, the next big thing (in Renaissance Italy, according to my studies, wide long sleeves and gold embroidery were the "it" styles for a time) and can never be happy.
These people are usually the most vain, the ones most obsessed with their appearance and with looking better than the person sitting beside them. It's as if the season's newest shoes will make you worthier (of what?) or more desirable (to whom?).
Vanity, then, will always be there to make us break the law, break the rules; to push us forward. Vanity is many times responsible for that face you make when you stare at your closet filled to the brim yet declare that you have nothing to wear, it's what moves you to go buy two sweaters because your friend just bought one or to wear the fanciest outfit to a date function in an attempt to outshine others.
I'll stop before I get so preachy that you put the paper down, but just think about it.
This Giraudias person knew what he was talking about, not to mention this Hughes lady.
They should have written for Vogue, no?
Demetra Karamanos can be reached at fashion@cavalierdaily.com
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