Best of Week: Clothes

Every single morning before leaving for work or for school, each of us chooses an outfit that we are going to wear that day. We may not think about it consciously, but in the back of our minds we know that people are going to be seeing us in those clothes all day, and at some point, someone will probably make a judgement about us based on what we're wearing. No matter how shallow this may sound, our clothes are almost as important as what we say and what we do when it comes to the way that we're viewed. Clothes are one way of expressing ourselves to the world.

"Vain trifles as they seem, clothes have, they say, more important offices than merely to keep us warm. They change our view of the world and the world's view of us...Clothes are but a symbol of something hid deep beneath" (Orlando, pages 138-139).

On an average school day, a typical outfit for me consists of a pair of jeans, a nice shirt or a tanktop, and a cardigan. What am I trying to express with that outfit? I never really think about it when I'm putting it together. But as I think about it now, I'm trying to be comfortable but I also want to look classy. On the other hand, when I wake up in the morning knowing that it's going to be a not-so-good day (if I have a test in every single class, if it's finals week, I'm sick, etc.), I dress differently. On days like that, I usually either wear sweatpants and a T-Shirt, or jeans and a sweatshirt. What am I trying to express? I'm tired, I'm stressed, and I want to be left alone to some extent. While I still want to be comfortable, dressing nicely is the last thing on my mind. 

Clothes not only affect the way that others view us, they also affect the way that we view ourselves and the way we behave. In Orlando, Orlando falls in love with a Russian girl named Sasha. Sasha wears Russian clothes which disguise her gender, to the extent where, upon their first meeting, Orlando is unsure whether she is a girl or a boy. On the very first page of the book, it is said of Orlando's gender, "...the fashion of the time did something to disguise it..." So, Sasha is dressed in a more manly way than most women of the time, and Orlando's clothing disguises his gender to some degree. From the time they meet, Orlando is wrapped around Sasha's finger. But later on, she deceives him, leaves him, and returns to Russia. In their relationship, Sasha, clad in men's clothing, takes the role of power (which the man usually takes), and Orlando is crushed as a result. 

Our outfits can change our attitude and the way we portray ourselves. When it's a special occasion and I'm wearing a fancy dress, I feel elegant and I behave in a more ladylike fashion than when I'm wearing jeans. When a man puts on a uniform, he immediately feels a sense of authority. When a person goes in for a job interview, he or she will "dress for success," hoping to project confidence and professionalism. But along with helping us express ourselves and changing our attitudes, clothing can also dictate what we can and cannot do. For example, nobody would show up to a funeral in a pair of sweatpants. Nobody would go for a jog in a party dress. In a way, we are not as free as we think when it comes to choosing what to wear. In the words of Virginia Woolf, "...It is clothes that wear us and not we them; we may make them take the mould of arm or breast, but they mould our hearts, our brains, our tongues to their liking." (138).

What If: Gender Roles

Recently in class, we've been discussing gender roles and their effects in the book Orlando. While discussing their effects in Orlando, we also began to discuss how gender roles effect our society today.

We tend to think that, compared to the time before feminism and women's rights arose, our society treats males and females pretty equally. And I guess that's true, seeing how women nowadays are allowed to work, and the majority of working women have gone to college and received a degree. But what we seem to ignore when it comes to equality between the genders is the stereotype that each gender typically takes on. These stereotypes aren't usually questioned, because they've become so common that we've learned to accept them and move on with our lives. But these stereotypes are still limiting what each gender is socially "allowed" to do.

Women are supposed to be nurturing, pretty damsels in distress. Men are supposed to be big, successful tough guys. While, of course, there are exceptions to any stereotype, most men and women in our society tend to follow these gender roles, at least to some degree. But during our discussion, I began to wonder: What if these gender roles didn't exist? What if macho men could freely have a passion for ballet? What if nurturing women could play football and obsess over their cars?

And the more I thought about it, the more questions came to my mind. How much would really change in a society without gender roles? People would be more likely to fulfill their potential without worrying about whether it would be perceived as the"right" thing to do as a man or a woman. But, would people feel lost or confused without a pre-established role to follow? Could it be that gender roles are just a part of human nature, and our society would eventually just fall back into the way that things are now? Are gender roles really so bad? In truth, it's hard to assess whether they are good or bad, since they do seem to be based on human nature. After all, since the beginning of time, men have been hunters and women have stayed home and raised the children. It's really a fact of life. So by questioning a human's ability to break through a gender role, we're really questioning the entire foundation of society.  And while I could "man up" and wrestle with that subject, I'll just let the boys take care of it. Maybe I'm better off with a pint of ice cream watching The Notebook.