This week, Kayli and I worked to define our methodology and project summary. We met twice to discuss our project and plan our schedule. We have also been communicating with each other over Facebook and a google folder. We have been sending each other articles that we find relevant. I have actually found a good deal of articles, that pop up on my Facebook timeline, to be relevant to our research.
We are really trying to be conscious of how to make our documentary feel like sociological research. One thing I have been focusing on is the literature review. I have been reading Georg Simmel’s piece on fashion, which I think will be a strong source to root our argument. Simmel focuses on fashion as a construct of the elite, however we are looking at how the non-elite are now influencing elite fashion and staying ahead of the game. We will integrate this piece through quotes that are either visually portrayed or audio. I also reached out to Professor Devgan, and she has agreed to allow us to film her speaking about sociology and fashion. This will be a way for us to visually represent our literature review.
I have been reaching out to my peers and instagram celebrities via social media. I have still not had success with instagram celebrities. I have scheduled three interviews with my peers. We attempted to schedule an interview for this week, but everyone we reached out to, wanted a little more time. It is really important to us that this documentary does not attempt to represent Bowdoin fashion culture. Unlike other schools, Bowdoin does not have a particularly vibrant “normcore” community. We are selecting peers that seem to embrace the aesthetic, but Bowdoin as a space is potentially limiting. Our peers are also on the younger side of the millennial age range. I hope that we are able to find people outside of the Bowdoin “bubble,” that are slightly older, and willing to be interviewed.
I have told those that we will interview, the premise of our research. Our topic is complex, and we want to give people a chance to think about it. I asked for those that we are interviewing to send us the outfit they will wear beforehand, or describe their fashion. We are going to try to select locations and plan shots according to the essence of each subject’s style. Although our creativity will not be objective, this will utilize the strengths of film as a medium, and how we are able to represent our subjects.
We are going to send everyone our interview questions before the interviews. I have been working on writing the interview protocol. It is tricky to make sure that none of our questions are leading, because we do want our subjects to talk about race, class, and gender in relation to fashion, but we do not want to push connections that might not actually be there. I think it will be useful to potentially leave the audio of the interviewer asking the questions, in the film. This way, viewers can transparently hear how the questions were posed. We have been thinking and talking a lot about the potential power that film has in illuminating researcher positionality. Ideally, viewers will be able to see and hear our biases as researchers. Next week, we will conduct at least three interviews, and continue our research.
Holly,
It appears that you and Kayli are starting off strong. It can be a challenge when you are examining certain dynamics, but don’t know exactly where the responses will take you. I think that your exploration of how “non-elite” people are leading trends in fashion is an important topic and a great starting point. I would encourage you to keep your interview questions as open-ended as possible, which will allow your interlocutors to tell their stories. You can always apply your sociological imprint in the analysis of those stories.
Simmel here works as a great foundation for you to then situate yourselves in conversation with him; given that he thinks of fashion trends emanating from elite (or high) culture, you are able to consider the structural and cultural traditions that enable the adoption of fashion trends like “normcore.” Ocejo might also provide some good theoretical foundations here, too.
Your choice to interview internet celebrities is interesting. If you are thinking about the influence of non-elite fashion, then why interview those who might now be aligned with a certain kind of elitism? It might be good for you to focus on your peers to get a sense of what influences them, how they find community through their fashion choices, and whether they think of themselves as trendsetters of sorts.
This research is very exciting. I also love the format of your project. There are some definite differences in producing a documentary from writing a paper; you want to make sure that your documentary contains a clear point of view and that, either through voiceover or through visual images, that you are somehow bringing your findings into conversation with the sociological theories.
Great work! I look forward to seeing how this develops.