This week, Kayli and I completed our final interview and will begin editing on Sunday. Our final interview went incredibly well. We interviewed Anu, who has an active presence in the fashion scene on campus. In comparison to the other interviews, she had the most prepared and thought out answers. She talked in depth about fashion’s connection to race, class, gender, and sexuality. Unlike our other respondents, she was adamant that fashion can be oppressive, but also creates space for acts of resistance and change. As the only queer, black woman that we interviewed, she was marginalized by many of the identities that we were asking questions about. It has been really interesting to see how few of the people that we interviewed actually identified their fashion as resistance. After talking more about how their fashion resisted the norm, most respondents asserted that there were elements of resistance, but also stressed their privilege. Our research before the interviews predominantly said that millennials are using fashion as resistance. This has proven much more complicated, but a point that Anu agreed with. It seems as though relating fashion to resistance relied heavily on respondent privilege or interpretations of privilege.
I have been thinking about this question of authenticity that was raised in a comment on my last log. Authenticity is so elusive when it comes to fashion, yet definitely a way in which individuals interpret their identity and a way that people judge others. It seems as though many might perceive fashion as resistance only when it is “authentic.” For example, Nick’s interview came across as less authentic than Isaac’s because, although both dressed in ways that would be considered gender-fluid, Isaac was actually beginning to think about his gender and sexuality as fluid. Nick played his clothing off as something that was comfortable and easy. For two people that appear very similar, Isaac seemed to be using fashion as more of resistance because it seemed to be a display of his “authentic” personality. In reality, this is a very shallow way to interpret this information. Understandings of authenticity are often conflated with biases about certain identities. Perceptions of authenticity are extremely relevant, and I think a topic that we will try to weave in. However, it will also be important for us to understand our bias in interpreting individual authenticity. What goes into our consideration of fashion as resistance? Identity certainly seems to be a huge factor.
At this point, it is difficult to say what our final findings will be. We are going to rewatch all of the interviews and visually code them by race, class, gender, sexuality, resistance, oppression, and potentially a few other codes. Our interviews have been conceptually diverse. We do not want to force a conclusion, so we need to find ways for our documentary to embrace contradictions and diversity, while having a clear point.
Holly,
Again, your log raises some very important questions about the politics of authenticity when it comes to fashion. I’m glad that Anu seems more transparent and reflective about her fashion choices than the others. I wonder what makes her fashion choices different from the others you interviewed. I can’t help wondering whether her social location shapes the kind of fashion choices she makes. As a black woman in a white space, she probably has to contend with Eurocentric standards of beauty far more than the men of color you interviewed (not to minimize the fact that they feel a certain pressure to dress a certain way, but rather that they are not held to the same standards as women).
Your discussion about Nick and his fashion choices as “easy” is equally as telling as someone like Anu. I wonder to what extent does Nick leverage privileges in order to make his fashion choices seem like less of a big deal. The truth is, nobody wants to seem that their choices reek of trying too hard, even those who are trying their best to fit in. As I mentioned in previous comments, Nick’s interview seems to reflect “everyday politics” — politics demonstrated more through embodiment and legibility than the desire to make an explicit statement. Of course, Nick is making certain aesthetic choices, but there may be certain researcher’s effects which prevent him from being open about them.
Your project is really taking shape. I like the approach you are taking with your interviews. I would encourage you both to think about how fashion may operate as everyday politics in spite of how your interlocutors may articulate their fashion choices. I look forward to learning more about the project.