Hear this blog post read aloud:
Recently, we welcomed Lesley Raven, Senior Lecturer in Fashion Art Direction, for a beautifully layered session exploring clothing, collage, and the subtle ways our identities are stitched into what we wear.
Lesley invited us to reflect on our everyday outfits. Her questions got us to think about what we like, what we don’t, what we reach for again and again and the ways we choose to express and dress ourselves at different points in our lives. Then she invited us to create a collage that represents our day-to-day selves. As we cut and stuck our images, conversation flowed naturally: warm, funny, and meandering exchanges that sparked insight and connection. We then paired up to reflect more deeply, and closed the session with a group chat, sharing a little of what we’d realised through the session.
Read on to see some of the group’s thoughts and experiences on this rich and relatable topic.
Jane Graham
A Life in Clothes
In my first decade it was the war
Coupons were the necessary chore
Clothes were made at home
So everybody had some.
In the second decade, still the war
Knitting socks and gloves another chore
Making do and mend
Was the skilful trend
Now it is the third decade, what fun!
Clothes now can be bought!
Nipped in waists and uplift bras
Make dancing such a joy by far.
Family life makes a change
Scrimp and save for family need
Making home life full of activity
Children learning skills they’ll need
Oh the bliss of having money
Shopping becomes a delightful thing
I can still dress up and be beautiful
Displaying myself every spring
Being active only requires
Rainbow colours in everything
With bolt cutters in hand wear
Only clothes that blend with mud
Comfort now is what I want
“Don’t do that” my daughter says
“You must look smart
When you go out with me”
The same old clothes go on each day
Washed and worn and mended
Only a very special day makes me look
Into my wardrobe for something else
Now I am ninety, I resolve never again to buy-
I want to save the planet before I die
Too much I have so send to charity
To make amends
Jolene Sheehan
As I filled in the worksheet, I realised how much I rely on ease and comfort in my daily outfits. The one I was wearing that day was typical of me. Leggings, soft cardigan, cosy belted t-shirt. These are things I’ve worn many times before, that I’ve had nice experiences in, and that help me feel professional and approachable. The realisation emerges as I write; with every repeated outfit, I’m building up layers of positive memories and giving myself a soft, protective hug made of clothes that help me feel safe on any new adventures. A cosy armour!
I also noticed how much I care about feeling pulled together when I am out and about. Matching silver earrings to the crescent moon on my top, black boots to black leggings. These small choices give me an energy boost. They help me occupy a version of myself that is more outward facing than the messy, paint covered me of home. (Sometimes also covered in food I’ve dropped!)
There is always a bit of tension though. I want to feel comfortable and capable of moving with ease, but I’m aware that boxy cardigans and chunky boots can make me feel self conscious of my shape, even as they disguise it. I’ve internalised the idea that being attractive or even good enough as a woman, means being both slender and shapely, yet not flaunting that. I’m gently unravelling that, letting myself be as I am, but it still gets to me sometimes.
I’m not bothered about brands. I like things that are suited to the temperature, feel good on the skin, affordable, second hand, that suit my shape and do not need ironing or dry cleaning. I dress to show creativity, but in a quiet way. I do not want to shout HERE I AM. I want harmony between how I feel inside and what I wear, but not so much that I feel exposed. Those small matching touches like jewellery, shoes or a belt help create a sense of balance.
The session gave me time to reflect on all of this. How clothing holds so many contradictions and subconcious choices even if we think we are not that bothered by fashion. How clothing can comfort and constrain, hide and reveal, soften and speak.
Tony Goulding
“Clothes Maketh the Man”*
In another interesting and enjoyable session this month, the group returned to a previously explored theme of clothing. More specifically how the clothes we wear are partially determined by society’s norms but also can reflect the wearer’s personality.
We expect members of the professions to be appropriately dressed in a suit or at the very least a jacket and tie. However, the choice of tie may be a more idiosyncratic choice. Politicians’ ties for instance most often will be the colour of their party.It is very noticeable that many people who must dress in a uniform will choose to adorn it with a lapel badge or in some instances a multitude of them.
How a person expresses individuality via their choice of clothing and / or accessories may be straightforward and obvious or alternatively it might be quite subtle.
In my case I recall when I started to wear flat caps as a norm. It was when I was living and working in London, seeing it I believe as an acknowledgement of my Northern roots. More recently I increasingly choose to wear variations of the colour blue no doubt reflecting my allegiance to my favourite sports team. Interestingly as the picture shows I was not averse to sporting a red shirt in the past, indicating that clothing preferences can vary by both time and location.
Finally, while reflecting on this theme, my clothing choices reveal that I consider more about what I wear than I thought I did.
*“Clothes Maketh the Man” is a proverb with its roots in antiquity and has been in general use from the Middle Ages. An alternative thought is, “Manners Maketh the Man” the motto of Winchester College which emphasises a person’s character in defining them over their outward appearance.
Joe Sykes
According to the proverb, “clothes maketh the man”. But who is “the man” – or indeed “the woman” – and what happens when we like the clothes but we’re not sure we’re ready to be the person those clothes create – at least not publicly? In our most recent session, Jolene referred to the disconnect we sometimes feel between the way we want to see ourselves and the way we want others to see us. This is most acute in our teenage years, when fashion is everything – at a time in our lives where everything is everything. If you don’t get it right, your world will surely fall apart.
I’d been put in a box as a child, the way we box all children. I was shy, while others were confident. I was bookish; others sporty. I was sensitive; others jokers. But aged 13, I wanted to see myself as something different, even if I wasn’t ready for others to see me that way yet. In the capitalist world we live in, this meant consuming: Nike drawstring bag (tick), Le Coq Sportif cagoule (tick), Reebok Classics (tick). I got the short-term endorphins shopping gives us, and also a thrill at breaking out of the social status I’d been assigned. But there was one small step which seemed like a giant leap too far. Finally, I plucked up the courage to ask:
“Mum… For my fourteenth birthday… I’ve been thinking… And I know you might hate the idea… But if you could just consider it… I’d like to get my ear pierced.”
Of course, someone with the bad-ass identity I craved would never have approached the matter like this. They’d have just gone to town and come home with a golden hoop in their ear. Parents? Who needs their permission?
My mum was a little perplexed. Had her geeky son got in with the wrong crowd?
“Erm… okay, darling. If you’re sure?”
But I got cold feet. As much as I wanted to look as cool as Andrew in 9D (who I definitely had a crush on), I was petrified of shocked, puzzled looks. Of people thinking differently of me.
At university I finally went for it. And I loved it. Perhaps clothes do make the man, but in a different way too. Perhaps more important than showing your status to others, they constrain or liberate us to be the person we want to be.
The Stories of Our Lives 