The Language of Dress: A Sociohistorical Study of the Meaning of Clothing in America

TheCanadian Review of American Studies, Volume 10, No. 3, Winter 1979 TheLanguageof Dre~s:A Sociohistorical Study of the Meaningof Clothing in America Jeanette C. Lauer and Robert H. Lauer In the early part of the nineteenth century, Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine warned its readers to "be careful that our fashions are not inconsistent with good sense and pure morals." 1 In other words, the clothes we wear tell something about our character. Those who wish to maintain a good reputation will attend to their dress: "the woman who is careless and mdifferent to her personal appearance loses half her influence" (p. 18). Americans have been so convinced that dress tells something about the character of the wearer that laws regulating dress were proposed in various states as late as the early 1920's.2 Clothes give us more than information about the character of the wearer, however; in fact, clothes are a form of what social psychologists call "structural nonverbal information." 3 Clothing, that is, is an aspect of an individual that, like gestures (dynamic nonverbal information), conveys important information. But what kind of information? Or to phrase the question differently, what is the meaning that Americans attribute to clothing-both to the kind of clothes worn and to the manner of wearing them? We researched the meanings by looking at what people have said in the popular media-magazines and newspapers. Where possible, the data were supplemented by professional studies. We found that there has been a relatively stable set of social meanings of clothing in America. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Americans have asserted that dress provides specific information about 306 Lauer and Lauer individuals (their characters and personalities; their acceptance or rejection of the social order; and their status), about groups (their identity and the character of their members), and about the entire society (its tastes, principles, moral state, and mood). We shall look at each of the categories in turn. I. Information about Individuals A. Character and Personality By far the most common assertion about dress is that it conveys information about the wearer's character and personality. In 1827, ;n anonymous writer drew a number of parallels between the manner of dress and character: Certainly, the dress of a gentleman or lady, in most cases, will convey some general idea of the mind and tastes of the wearer. If the dress of a gentleman be slovenly, he will most probably chew tobacco, possibly frequent portershops, eat crackers and cheese, talk loudly, swear like a trooper, and wind up the week with a carouse, setting the town to rights. If that of a lady be so, her chamber will doubtlessly be in sad disorder,-her night-dress will lie on one chair,-a discarded petticoat on another, or the floor,-her tooth brush on the toilet,-an assortment of undarned stockings in a comer closet, and the bed will always have an impression of her form. If, on the other hand, the habits of either be distinguished by extreme tidiness ...you may safely set these parties down as mere pincush10n and puff-powder people,-of small minds, incapable of lofty purposes, and generous, warm. unselfish feelings. They are emphatically small people. 4 The idea that wearing clothes in an inappropriate manner conveys the information that one is a person with negative qualities recurs, as illustrated by a 1963 statement: "Sloppy clothes or a disorganized wardrobe indicate sloppy and disorganized thinking .... "5 On the other hand, to wear one's clothes neatly is to show positive qualities of character, including self-respect: "A man, of course, owes it to himself to be properly clothed, and proper self-respect bids him dress in such a way as to keep his health, purity, and good repute ... dress is the most obvious mark of personal dignity :'6 Not only the manner of dress, but the kinds of clothing worn indicate the kinds of people we are. Why, asked a writer in 1905, would a man wear a starched, white shirt? "Starch has nothing to do with modesty and little with protection"; rather, the starched shirt is symbolic, "giving an effect of metallic crispness far removed...