This past week, Holly and I started visually coding and editing the footage. After going through some of the interviews, we decided that a common theme to organize our content is through the concepts of space and bodies. Many of our interviewees talked about the role of space in their fashion decisions. For instance, Nick talked about how his fashion changes at home versus at Bowdoin. Here at Bowdoin, he wears “DIY” and “kind of shitty clothes” that are torn and stained with paint. While at home, he feels like his fashion must be more presentable and put together than at Bowdoin. Anu also talked about this tension of fashion decisions while at home versus Bowdoin. At Bowdoin, she experiments with more revealing clothes though at home she said these styles would not be accepted.
Another theme throughout our interviews was the role of the body in fashion. In other words, the way a body looks and is perceived influences people’s fashion decisions. Some interviewees talked about body size, skin color, and social status as factors that influence fashion. In Anu’s interview, she talked about her body shape and skin color. She said that growing up in a Nigerian household she was told that girls like her should not wear certain colors. She also said that designer clothes were not made for people like her with her body type and skin color. Instead of buying name brand clothes, she opts for clothing and styles that are flattering on her. She credited celebrities and social media for helping to pave the way towards defying these restrictions. Rihanna, for instance, embraces her curves and her changing body type by wearing designer brands that originally “were not made for her body.” Anu also talked about many black social media influencers wearing colors that they are typically told not to wear and how that inspires her to expand her fashion. She also talked about a millennial trend towards more revealing and see-through clothing. She connected this trend to a general trend towards body acceptance and celebration of all body types. Isaac also talked about the role of his body in his fashion decisions. As a tall, white man with facial hair and a deep voice, he is perceived as fairly masculine. He talked about his ability to experiment with more androgynous and feminine looks, like dangly earrings, eye makeup, and dresses, due to his masculine features.
There was also some overlap between the themes of space and bodies. Sydney, Justin, and Anu all mentioned respectability politics and talked about how certain clothes can uphold negative stereotypes. They also talked about the influence of space and location on how they are perceived. Sydney, for example, talked about his agency and freedom to experiment with fashion at Bowdoin compared to home. At home, his mother encouraged him to dress more preppy and discouraged him to wear items like ripped jeans and ear piercings because they gave in to negative racial stereotypes. During his first year at Bowdoin, he got his ears pierced and now wears ripped jeans and other clothes that are not “polo shirts and khakis.” When he goes home, he is mindful of what he wears and sometimes alters his fashion. Justin also talked about the tension between space and bodies. He talked about his knowledge of high fashion through his experience working at Nordstrom and also his knowledge of street fashion through growing up in the city of Baltimore. He mentioned the tension between navigating white spaces, like Bowdoin and his prep school, and more diverse spaces, like his neighborhood in Baltimore. His identity as a black male adds complexity to this tension because people assume him to not have knowledge of high fashion. He talked about an experience when after complimenting a woman’s designer bag, the woman looked surprised that he knew what brand it was since he is a black male from an urban area.
This week, Holly and I will continue coding, editing, and researching. We will also decide the best format to include our analysis in our project. One idea that we are considering is making a “director’s cut” version of the film that will include audio or scenes of us talking about our analysis. We would talk about the reasons why we organized the film into these themes, our initial reactions, our sociological basis for the analysis, and other information that would be useful for the viewer, without taking away from the natural flow of the narrative in our final cut. We hope to put together a trailer or a finished section of the film for our presentation next week.