Accessorizing the Body: Habits of Being I

Clothing, Dress, Fashion: An Arcade

Clothing, Dress, Fashion: An Arcade The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment: for all that do so are abominable unto the LORD thy God. D E U T E R O N O M Y 2 2 : 5 You must needs have dresses embroidered with gold; you like to do your perfumed hair in countless diƒerent ways; you must have sparkling rings upon your fingers. You adorn your necks with pearls brought from the East, pearls so big that your ears can scarcely bear the weight of them. O V I D , The Art of Beauty A complete description of people’s costumes is apt to be tedious, but as in stories the first thing that is said about the characters is invariably what they wore, I shall once in a way attempt such a description. L A D Y M U R A S A K I , The Tale of Genji C L O T H I N G , D R E S S , F A S H I O N / X V I Man was an animal compounded of two dresses, the natural and the celestial suit, which were the body and the soul; that the soul was the outward, and the body the inward clothing. . . . By all which it is manifest that the outward dress must needs be the soul. J O N A T H A N S W I F T , “A Tale of a Tub” The first spiritual want of a barbarous man is Decoration. T H O M A S C A R LY L E , Sartor Resartus It was dressed entirely in black, and of the very finest cloth; it had patent leather boots, and a hat that could be folded together, so that it was bare crown and brim; not to speak of what we already know it had—seals, gold neck-chain, and diamond rings; yes, the shadow was well-dressed, and it was just that which made it quite a man. H A N S C H R I S T I A N A N D E R S E N , “The Shadow” What shall we call our “self”? where does it begin? where does it end? It overflows into everything that belongs to us—and then it flows back again. I know a large part of myself is in the clothes I choose to wear. I’ve a great respect for things! . . . these things are all expressive. H E N R Y J A M E S , Portrait of a Lady Fashion includes a peculiar attraction of limitation, the attraction of a simultaneous beginning and end, the charm of novelty coupled to that of transitoriness. G E O R G S I M M E L , “The Philosophy of Fashion” The clothes are the background, the frame, if you like: they don’t make success, but they are part of it. E D I T H W H A R T O N , The House of Mirth X V I I / C L O T H I N G , D R E S S , F A S H I O N The human animal shows in its clothing as conspicuously as in many other ways, the peculiar power of extraphysical expression. C H A R L O T T E P E R K I N S G I L M A N , The Dress of Women A blue coat is guided away, guided and guided away, that is the particular color that is used for that length and not any width not even more than a shadow. G E R T R U D E S T E I N , “A Blue Coat” Let there be fashion, down with art. M A X E R N S T , Let There Be Fashion, Down with Art There is much to support the view that it is clothes that wear us and not we them. V I R G I N I A W O O L F , Orlando The eternal is in any case far more the ru‰e on a dress than some idea. W A LT E R B E N J A M I N , The Arcades Project Fashion is art’s permanent confession that it is not what it claims to be. T H E...