Fragments of a Fashionable Discourse

Kaja Silverman’s argument is very compelling. The idea that clothing is part of the construct of one’s identity and that it takes controls over one’s physical features is relevant in society today. We can see how advertisements for Victoria’s Secret portray women as having utmost confidence and joy because of the clothing they wear. These ads create the desire for people to look a certain way. Glamour Magazine portrays this through its many cover stories about fashion such as one titled “The Jeans that Make You Look Instantly Slimmer!” As the essay explains, clothing does shift the ways in which the body appears beautiful. However, I found it contradictory when the term “beautiful” was linked to “natural.” The essay says “clothes have been variously designed in history to help the female body look beautiful (and natural).” I don’t see how the body could be natural when it is being altered. The definition of “natural” has changed through fashion. Fashion now dictates the “natural look” through clothing and makeup, things that “make the human body culturally visible.”
Silverman notes that although fashion constructs a “new” female body every year, it is partly in the interests of gaining capital value. It is questionable why this does not occur as much in men’s clothing. Why doesn’t male dress undergo frequent and dramatic changes? The answer to this can be related to Quentin Bell’s theory that in the eighteenth century, it became a woman’s responsibility to display her husband’s wealth through clothing. However this does not explain why fashion for men is not used as a means for gaining capital as much as it is for women. This question is even more interesting when we see men indulging in shopping for women in many literary works, such as the example in Lolita provided in the essay.