The book delves into fashion as a system of power, exploring how written and unwritten rules of fashion have evolved and still influence what we wear today. It particularly examines the use of clothing as a means of navigating social scenes and the importance of clothing choices as expressions of identity.
He's written several books the most recent one being dress codes how the laws of fashion made history
— Episode: fashion history, a talk with richard tho...
Episode: fashion history, a talk with richard thompson ford...
The book delves into fashion as a system of power, exploring how written and unwritten rules of fashion have evolved and still influence what we wear today. It particularly examines the use of clothing as a means of navigating social scenes and the importance of clothing choices as expressions of identity.
He's written several books the most recent one being dress codes how the laws of fashion made history
And so over time I thought it would be great to dig into this and get a better sense for why people are suing why? Employers want to have these dress codes. Yeah that goes beyond what the typical legal analysis was
So I teach these cases to my students and any student who was remotely interested in fashion kind of thought well, that's not what was really at stake in this case So what the courts talking about isn't really what I think was going on and the students were right
So there's a moment where the court says, of course fashion is trivial you know, I mean there were a couple cases where they actually say just overtly of course, this is trivial and Not worth the attention of the courts except for the fact that it coincides with Discrimination on the basis of race or religion or a freedom of expression claim, but the presumption that fashion was trivial in and of itself Always rubbed me the wrong way and I thought you know You're not gonna get a good analysis if you begin with the proposition that what everyone cares about is trivial
I think that often it's unhealthy Particularly when it's directed at women. So I'm gonna come back to this point about the way women are forced into catch-22s around their attire constantly and Criticized no matter what they do. And so I think a lot of women When they dress in a way that might be considered provocative are Trying in an odd way to take control of The gender norms around clothing, you know that they've lived their lives Being pushed and pulled in these directions, you know, either you're too frumpy or you're too sexy your outfits boring Or it's slutty it's back and forth and they're just like, you know I'm just gonna wear something where there's just no argument about it and Call me what you want.