This week Holly and I continued our interviews with students and also interviewed Professor Devgan. We decided to focus our research on Bowdoin’s campus instead of our original plan to interview instagram celebrities and other millennials. We are interested in the students at Bowdoin whose fashion tends to stand out and the ways in which they make their fashion choices.
When asked about fashion as resistance, the interviewees were hesitant to say whether fashion can be used as resistance. But when asked how their own fashion resists or upholds notions of race, class, gender, or sexuality, some described the ways their fashion resists certain gendered stereotypes. First we interviewed Isaac and Callye, two students who experiment with androgynous and gender nonconforming styles. The couple talked about the ways in which they use fashion to combat stereotypes. Callye talked about her more “witchy femme” looks that combine dark colors with feminine silhouettes as well as her more androgynous looks that incorporate big t-shirts and bomber jackets. She also talked about her fashion inspiration, Georgia O’Keeffe, who was known for wearing an androgynous style. They shared an anecdote about Isaac buying a dress from a thrift shop. He said he is still working up the courage to wear this one day and he is not completely sold on how it looks on him rather than the fact that it is a dress. As a cis, white male, Isaac talked about how he might be more able to experiment with his fashion more so than other identities. He is perceived as masculine with his deep voice and tall frame so experimenting with more gender nonconforming styles might be more accessible to him than others. We then interviewed Nick, who also experimented with his style, wearing earrings and eyeliner. As a cis, white male he might also be able to experiment in this way more so than other identities.
Although some of our prior research indicated that millennials actively resist notions of race, class, gender, and sexuality through their fashion, most of our respondents did not label their fashion as active resistance. For Nick, some of his fashion was not even consciously resisting fashion norms. He talked about the ways his style has changed and how dressing grungier is easier and more accessible. As an artist, his clothes naturally get ripped up and stained with paint and he embraces these imperfections in his style. Unlike Isaac, Nick did not describe the ways in which his fashion has changed over the course of his Bowdoin career. As his peers, Holly and I noticed a stark difference in his grungy, alternative style now compared to his preppy phase earlier in his Bowdoin career. Isaac, on the other hand, fully embraced each fashion phase, acknowledging his preppy phase, “BOC” phase, and current experimental phase. He even admitted that he is not quite sure what his fashion is now but he’s still trying to develop his style and find what truly represents him.
We also interviewed Professor Devgan who talked about how fashion stems from the elite and is inconceivable for those in extreme poverty. She said that even though there are styles that might come from lower classes or minorities, the styles must be worn by the elite in order for the styles to be deemed fashionable and disseminated among the masses. She talked about the influence of social media for disseminating fashion trends for millennials.
Next week we will finish filming and interviews. We have one interview scheduled for Monday and will finish filming our “researcher positionality” scene as well.