Sociological Images

What does it mean that high fashion is (claiming to be) inspired by the homeless?  What is going on when models trying to appear homeless are paraded up and down catwalks and photographed?

We’ve seen it on America’s Next Top Model, we saw it in W, and now we see it at the Milan Fashion week with Vivienne Westwood’s collection.

Models were not only dressed to look homeless.  Their clothes were deliberately made to appear dusty and mismatched. Their messy hair and dirty faces were made up to look as if they were covered in frost.  Some seemed to have been dressed so as to appear crazy.

They walked, sometimes less than gracefully, a catwalk covered in cardboard boxes.  Sometimes they emerged from boxes and pushed shopping carts or carried sleeping bags or bedrolls.

Here’s what it looked like (comments below):

So what is going on here?  I’ll hazard a few thoughts, but I’d also like to hear what y’all think in the comments.

1.  Of course we have a trivialization of homelessness.  As Tom & Lorenzo note:

…in the candy-colored world of Vivienne Westwood, homeless people are all young with great bodies, high cheekbones and flawless skin, and they all have super-styled hair and brightly colored clothes.

So homelessness is transported, by this show, into something hip adopted by the beautiful people.  The painting of the men’s bodies and faces to look like they are covered in frost is a particularly insensitive move.  Some people actually are freezing to death, but at fashion week, it’s just a cool look.

Westwood’s press release about the collection stated that she:

…found inspiration in the roving vagrant whose daily get-up is a battle gear for the harsh weather conditions… Quilted bombers and snug hoodies also work well in keeping the vagrant warm.

Here the struggle involved with homelessness is reduced to having the right clothes.  With a “snug hoodie,” you can stay cozy.

2.  Threadbared notes that high fashion’s interest in homelessness is a way to soothe (liberal/class-induced) guilt.  Homeless chic shows that you see these people; you may even admire them. And, more, you’re able to see beyond their circumstances, filth, and frostbite to see beauty in them.  Mimi writes that homeless chic:

…just becomes the occasion… to praise your own aesthetic judgment (in this language, finding beauty in ugliness) and moral sensitivity (and in this, magnanimously granting to the indigent Other a sense of humanity through their aestheticization).

3.  Finally, dressing like a tramp is only fashionable when you have the choice to do otherwise.  That is, actual homeless people are not and never will be “fashionable” in this sense; they will always simply be homeless.  Threadbared, again, quoting Judith Williamson:

It is currently ‘in’ for the young and well-fed to go around in torn rags, but not for tramps to do so. In other words, the appropriation of other people’s dress is fashionable provided it is perfectly clear that you are, in fact, different from whoever would normally wear such clothes.

So, dressing up like a homeless person is one way to demonstrate your difference from, not your similarity to, actual homeless people.

The New York Times recently published an article on the evolving Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).  The DSM is the official source for psychologists who are diagnosing patients with mental disorders.  The article points out that the number of disorders in the manual has more than doubled since the 1950s:

Hypothesis One:  The DSM reflects an increasingly sophisticated and exhuastive compendium of all possible mental disorders.

Hypothesis Two:  More psychological disorders = more people diagnosed with mental disorders = more money is siphoned off to hospitals, treatment centers, drug companies, mental health professionals, social workers, school counselors, etc.  (Scientists who are currently working on the next version of the DSM have agreed to restrict their income from drug makes to $10,000 a year or less.)

Hypothesis Three:  We are an increasingly rationalized society and all things are becoming increasingly listed, compiled, organized, and annotated.

Hypothesis Four:  What is considered a “problem” depends on the social context.  (“Homosexuality” used to be in the DSM, but it isn’t any longer.)  Perhaps a shift in the last 50 years has created a social context that is less tolerant of difference, more insistent upon happiness, or requires a more compliant citizen.

Hypothesis Five:  Grassroots activists get together and lobby scientists to include disorders in the DSM so that they can raise awareness and money for research.

What do you think?

Thanks to Francisco for pointing me to this article!

We’re pleased to feature a 5-minute segment from George Lakoff, a scholar famous for his insights about rhetoric:

Found at Immersion Blog.

This clip of the TV show Intervention, a show about addition, was sent in by Molly McL. It is an example of the way that mothers get blamed for their (adult) childrens’ problems when they stray from mothering according to conventional gendered expectations.

Notice how the mother, an Art History Professor, blames herself, how the father calls her behavior unnatural, and the way in which the editing provides the viewer with the revelation that the son attempted suicide immediately after the mother says that: “It’s not what did this do to me, it’s what did it do to them.” There is a direct causal relationship drawn between the mother’s letting her son down and his video game addiction. He explains, more or less, that the control over the video game makes up for the lack of control over his mother. No other possible contributing factor is discussed.

Molly writes:

I just thought it was really interesting considering how frequently fathers do this, but of course the “unnatural” card is swiftly pulled with a mother.

The relevant part of the clip is from 4 minutes 40 seconds to six minutes 21 seconds:

I don’t know how “real” any of this is, but this what I’ve been able to collect on this matter…

If you are connected to the internets, you have probably heard these messages left on some unsuspecting woman’s answering machine.

The messages have been attributed to Dmitri the Lover, a professional seducer of women and teacher of seducers of women. Here is a screen shot of his wholly misogynistic website:

Here, too, is a news article detailing how he lost his medical license due to inappropriate sexual advances and has been accused of rape many times ‘n other great stuff.

Thanks to Jason S., Brett W., and CoRri V. for the links and info!

NEW!  Still at it, a reader alerted us to Dmitri’s “meeting” this January:

THERE IS ONLY ONE OPPORTUNITY EACH YEAR FOR HORNY MEN TO SEDUCE WOMEN THIS INSECURE, GROSSLY UNDERFUCKED, AND HIGHLY IMPRESSIONABLE.

More (his emphasis):

As a MEDICAL DOCTOR, Dimitri The Lover is extremely cognizant of the fact that studies have show over 60% of women worldwide suffer from a psychological disorder at some time during their lives.  In Canada’s northern climate, January is the worst month of the year for psychological symptoms, primarily because a decrease in the level of sunlight and shortened hours of daylight cause “Seasonal Affective Disorder”.  Exacerbated by both the post-holiday psychological letdown from unrealistically high pre-holiday expectations, and the effects of alcohol withdrawal on the neural pathways, this condition causes many women to fall into a MILD REACTIVE DEPRESSION.  Therefore, these once proud sluts become insecure and begin to doubt the value of their existing relationships, which even in the best of times are just barely adequate to meet their psychosexual needs.

Two readers, an anonymous commenter and Penny R., have brought our attention to ads that illustrate the denigration of the aging in U.S. society, especially aging women. Consider how much disgust and disdain we (are expected to) have for these two women (not to mention the triviality of the young woman in the Durex ad).

A New Zealand ad for Durex condoms (found here):

A pharmeceutical ad from 1969 (found here):

Text:

Lady, your anxiety is showing (over a coexisting depression)

Thanks to anonymous and Penny both!

One of my students pointed me to this pro-ana (that is, pro-anorexia) website. It provides tips on avoiding eating and hiding signs of anorexia from parents and doctors. In addition, there are “thinspiration” photos to provide anorectics images of what they are trying to achieve.

Note: A commenter pointed out that these images might be disturbing to some, particularly those recovering from an eating disorder, so I’ve made it optional whether you see them:

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