The thought that I needed greater understanding came from my responses as I viewed the passing parade of people on their way to who knows where. I found myself constructing a brief life history about anyone who particularly caught my attention. For example I saw this girl walking towards me:
In height she was close to 6 feet tall so would have been noticeable in most situations. However the clothing she was wearing demanded attention and the way that she walked strongly suggested a 'stuff you' attitude. What conclusions did I reach. It was evident from the lanyard badge she wore round her neck that she was a student so I surmised she was a student in the creative arts faculty. Another clue is the portfolio case she is carrying in her left hand. Her choice of dress suggested that she wished to be seen as different and, if belonging to a group at all, she was a member of a very small group that saw themselves at odds with the norms of the society in which they lived. The choice of hat gave pause for thought. Had we been in Moscow in the middle of winter it may not have been cause for comment but the day was pleasantly mild. The hat as a piece of protective wear made no sense so I reached the conclusion that it was part of her statement to the world about her. Here, I thought, is someone you do not mess with. Of course I could be totally wrong and that she really is a pussy cat who loves the world and all its inhabitants.
Although this young woman is dressed in a way that provokes interest and speculation there were many others who were more conservatively dressed and yet I continued to make up small life histories that were suggested by their mode of dress. Where there was time for both speculation and photography I took a photograph of those I found most interesting.
How reasonable are the conclusions we draw from how a person dresses? Experience suggests that we are often close to the truth otherwise much social interaction between relative strangers would be near impossible. We learn to recognise and respond to the clues we are offered by the way that a person dresses. Although more difficult now than in the past how people dress themselves tells us a great deal about how they see themselves and the likely groups to which they belong. We have many facets to our 'identity' such as our gender (not always easy to decide); ethnic group and age. Less obvious indicators are profession, religion and, if known, wealth. How a person dresses can provide strong clues to the answer to all these questions at the same time.What we wear tells the world how we wish to be seen and, equally importantly, how we see ourselves.
Viewing the passing world in diverse forms of dress it would be easy to assume that we dress as we wish, and that, in part, is true but there are a number of pressures upon us to conform. There is a strong desire amongst most animals, including humans, to belong to and be accepted by a particular group. The group may be very large such as a religious group where there is a dress code that is followed by all faithful adherents - the sikh turban being a clearly visible example - or it may be of significant size such as the 'teddy boys' of the 1950's who declared their allegiance by wearing Edwardian style clothes or a small, close knit group whose numbers and whose dress code may not be obvious to the casual observer. What is common amongst virtually all groups, whatever their size, is that clothing, or lack of it, will be the way in which a member states their allegiance.
Dr Karen Pine, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire, says that "People feel safer when they dress alike...They are signalling their need to belong to the group. A team that chooses the same style of dress for work is indicating their cohesiveness, which may reflect a wider collaborative culture." Psychologist Oliver James Says"......attire is the way you get a cohesive team spirit: people feeling as though we are all in this together. A modern example, which appears on our TV screens regularly, is football teams and their supporters. Despite the relative high costs of wearing the 1st team colours of the team you support, which for marketing purposes are changed regularly, supporters denote their allegiance by wearing the latest strip.
(see http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/dressed-the-same-as-a-colleagueits-a-twin-twin-situation-for-your-career-trajectory-8798938.html)
From the foregoing we can draw the conclusion that, for all practical purposes everyone is, in some way, wearing a 'costume' that offer clues to the make up of their identity. The people who are members of a Morris Dancing Group or Re-enactment group are exhibiting their allegiance to the group norms of the Society or Club to which they belong. They are more noticeable because their style of dress lies outside that which we usually see in everyday life plus the fact that they invite people to see them. The rest of us (and them as well when they are not Morris Dancing) offer a different set of clues that conform to the norms of the groups we belong to at any point in time. Our susceptibility to group pressures will vary as we move from one role to another in our everyday life. For all we know the sedately dressed banker we see in the City may go home and change into an unusual costume prior to joining other group members in a series of rituals that would seem strange to others.
Where does this leave my project? On the one hand I could, in theory, photograph anyone arguing that what we see is a person that is conforming to the pressures of the group he/she belongs at that moment in time. However I am not sure that would be much of a photo story. Happily their remain a significant part of the population whose dress is sufficiently different to be interesting because it lies outside the broad range that we usually call 'normal'. These will be my targets.
Other Sources:
http://www.shef.ac.uk/archaeology/research/dress-and-society
http://www.spring.org.uk/2009/06/why-group-norms-kill-creativity.php
www.spring.org.uk/2009/07/10-rules-that-govern-groups.php
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