High Tea

Bergdorf Goodman Restaurant

For my final field experiment, I decided to observe conspicuous leisure through high tea. I initially decided to go to The Plaza in Midtown but the restaurant that served high tea was completely full and I couldn’t get a table unless I had a reservation. I noticed that the tables were full of tourists and it worked out better because my observations would be skewed if I had stayed at The Plaza. I decided to go next door to Bergdorf Goodman to their restaurant that served high tea as well. For this observation field experiment, I was curious to see who would be enjoying high tea at 4pm on a Friday. 

My all black conspicuous under-consumption ensemble 

I purposely dressed in all black to test conspicuous under-consumption we discussed briefly in class. In Anne Hollander’s Seeing Through Clothes, she states that black clothing in the 19^th century connotes “antifashion”, “rebellious tradition”, “conventionally sober”, and “isolating” (Hollander 377). My black sweater was purposely knitted with holes and while this may be acceptable in downtown Manhattan, I wondered what response I would get from the other people in the restaurant. I completed my look with a black Chanel bag which is subtle and non-flashy and in Lynn Yaeger’s “Carried Away”, she states that “handbags have nosed their way in a place once occupied almost exclusively by diamonds and fancy furs, functioning as badges of honor, announcements that you’ve arrived at a particular economic or social level” (Yaeger, 2007). Apart from observing the people enjoying high tea on a Friday afternoon, I also wanted to test whether people would judge my social status based on my bag or on my conspicuous under-consuming outfit as a whole.

Typical items offered in high tea

The British categorize tea time to low tea and high tea. Low tea is from 3pm to 5pm and tea is accompanied with small sandwiches and scones. High tea is from 5pm to 6pm and consists of cold meats, cakes, and sandwiches. In the US, high tea refers to a tea party which is a formal gathering where coffee and tea is served on fancy china accompanied by sandwiches and cakes. Which the British distinguish low and high tea according to the height of the table, Americans’ use of high tea refers to high social status. I decided to observe high tea as conspicuous leisure as Veblen defines it as unproductive consumption of time. High tea starts from $35 per person for a drink and a plate of mini sandwiches and pastries. It is not an essential meal as it is between lunch and dinner time. 

My discreet photo of the restaurant

As I sit alone in a throne-like chair with my one cup of black coffee, I looked around the half empty restaurant and observed the tables around me. When I first sat down, I noticed two tables were having a business meeting while the other tables were tourists visiting New York. Around 5pm, various Bergdorf shoppers stopped in to enjoy high tea after a long day of hard work—shopping.  As they walked in with their 4 inch heels and a sea of purple Bergdorf shopping bags, they were ready for a much needed break. The predominately female shoppers varied from older women in their 50s, mother-daughter duos, to women in their mid 20s. For a day of shopping, the women in the restaurant were very dressed up and adorned with large custom jewelry and large visible diamonds. In Zygmunt Bauman’s Consuming Life, the author highlights that “the ‘raw’, unadorned, un-re-formed and unprocessed body is something be ashamed of” as it connotes “ineptitude, ignorance, impotence and resourcelessness to ‘the self’” (Bauman 59). Their dress exemplified conspicuous leisure as Veblen states that “elegant dress serves its purpose of elegance not only in that it is expensive, but also because it is the insignia of leisure” (Veblen 126). The women walked in to enjoy their high tea in 3 to 4 inch heels which signifies “evidence of enforced leisure afforded by its polish” as these women most likely did not have to take the subway in their uncomfortable shoes (Veblen 126). 

What the Bergdorf High Tea consists of (taken from a friend's Facebook photo)

As women carrying crocodile Birkins walk pass me, they seem confused as they look at my empty table with only one cup of coffee (which I abused my free refills to the fullest) while the tables next to me were filled with tiers of sandwiches and scones and the women were sipping on champagne. As I look at the menu, I see that high tea starts from $35 per person and I wonder why this extravagance was necessary. My $4 coffee at the Bergdorf restaurant was nothing special so I wonder why people did not opt for coffee and scones at Starbucks instead.

Was high tea simply an extension of their expensive handbags and another form of conspicuous consumption? Bauman states that “‘consumer syndrome’ is all about speed, excess and waste” (Bauman 86). The shoppers fulfill “speed” by spending all afternoon trying to be up-to-date with the current trends at Bergdorf. In Gilles Lipovetsky’s The Empire of Fashion, the author highlight’s Gabrielle Tard’s claim that the we are more “susceptible to passing fads” and our interest in “novelty… is a matter of social persistence” (Lipovetsky 228). Furthermore, we have the mentality of “everything new is beautiful” (Lipovetsky 227) embedded in our heads and this is further reinforced by Bauman as he claims we have “the concern ‘to be and to stay head’ (ahead of the ‘style pack’… the ‘others who count’ and whose approval or rejection [matters])” (Bauman 82). Furthermore, Bauman states that “shop dependence” sets in early on in our childhood and “everyone needs to be, ought to be, must be a consumer-by-vocation” (Bauman 55). Similarly, Lipovetsky reinforces that “the love of novelty has become general, regular, limitless” (Lipovetsky 229). The limitless novelty in fashion is echoed in high tea. The meal is not necessary but the large variety of mini sandwiches, pastries, and scones fulfill the limitless need for novelty. Veblen states that “principle of novelty is another corollary under the law of conspicuous waste” (Veblen 127). While an expensive handbag signifies a woman’s economic and social status, being seen at high tea shows that she does not have to work, do domestic chores, or watch her children as she is enjoying high tea with her friends on a Friday afternoon. For the women in their 20’s, these girls represented their parents’ wealth as they do not have to be at school, work, or internship and have the luxury of spending their afternoon at Bergdorf instead. Just like how the handbag or an engagement ring shows how financially established the husband is, having high tea reinforces the economic and social status implied by the handbag and jewelry and shows not only does she have money, she also has the leisure time to spend it without other responsibilities.  

I was pleasantly surprised at how nice the waiters were to me as I only ordered one thing and they kept asking if I wanted a free refill. While I did feel isolated because I was the only person who was alone at the table, I felt that my conspicuous under-consumption dress was not dramatic enough to make a strong impression. In class, we discussed whether an expensive handbag overshadows the outfit and immediately implies wealth or whether one’s wealth is judged based on the entire outfit. In Erving Goffman’s The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, he claims that each individual expresses two kinds of sign activity: “the expression he gives, and the expression that he gives off” (Goffman 2). Based on the service and few stares I observed, I think my black outfit gives off an independent and isolated impression and that I want to be left alone. The waiters only approached me when my cup was empty and quickly gave me my bill after I said I no longer wanted anymore refills. As I left the restaurant, I stopped on 5^th floor to browse the contemporary designers’ floor and although I walked by several sales associates, none of them asked if I needed help. Compared to the other shoppers, I was definitely underdressed and I didn’t look like I was going to buy anything. Although my field experiment didn’t include testing the sales associates’ service, I found the contrast between the service in the restaurant to the service in the store quite drastic and I felt that my dress was more harshly judged in the store.

For my field experiment, I expected the restaurant to be full of women in their 40’s and 50’s enjoying tea time with their friends and I was surprised to see the wide range of age in the people I observed and there were a few men in the restaurant but they were there strictly for a business meeting. I was disappointed that the restaurant was only half full but I strategically chose Friday afternoon to conduct my experiment because there is a limited pool of carefree people who would be shopping and enjoying their high tea. I’ve always thought of high tea as a treat for special occasions but through my observations and analysis for this field experiment, I’ve realized that it is another form of conspicuous consumption and reinforces Veblen’s concept of conspicuous leisure and conspicuous waste.

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Bibliography

Bauman, Zygmunt. Consuming Life. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2007.

Goffman, Erving. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York: Double Day, 1959.

Hollander, Anne. Seeing Through Clothes.  New York: The Viking Press, 1978.

Lipovetsky, Giles.  The Empire of Fashion: Dressing Modern Democracy.  Princeton:

Princeton University Press, 1994.

Yaeger, Lynn. “Carried Away.” The Atlantic Monthly (April 2007), http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/print/200704/yaeger-handbags.

Limits of Fashion Exhibitionism in the Fashion Job Interview

In Mary Lynn Damhorst and Patricia A. Kimle’s “Symbolic interaction: A Grounded theory Model of the Ideal Business Image for the Women”, “fashion excessively in business can be seen as exhibitionism” (Damhorst 54) and being too trendy in the workplace can “communicate negative ideas, including a lack of judgment in personal decisions and a tendency to conform easily” (53). While the authors are referring to the corporate business world where conservative fashion is preferred, I decided to test out fashion exhibitionism in the fashion industry. For my dress up field experiment, I decided to apply for a summer internship at a few major fashion magazines: Vogue, Elle, W, and Harper’s Bazaar. I submitted my real resume and cover letter to different departments in each magazine and I was called in for an interview at Vogue Paris for a fashion internship position and at Elle for an accessories internship position. Both magazines encourage the use of luxury goods and fashion trends so for my field experiment, I decided to test the limits of conspicuous consumption at an interview in the fashion industry. Thorstein Veblen defined conspicuous consumption as extravagant spending on products to display wealth and social status. However, Veblen’s context of extravagant spending referred to the product’s “solidity and durability… solidity, permanence and indestructibility” (Bauman 30). Today, conspicuous consumption refers exclusively to the brand of the product rather than its quality. People often make snap judgments on people’s success based on the brands associated with the things they own. In The Language of Clothes, Alison Lurie states that the language of dress announces your “sex, age, and class… through what you are wearing” as well as give clues to “your occupation, origin, personality, opinions, tastes, sexual desires and current mood” (Lurie 3). Lurie states that this information can be inferred based on what you’re wearing even before the person talks to you. In the fashion industry, an industry where luxury brands are heavily encouraged, would dressing conspicuously hurt one’s performance in a job interview?

            For my experiment, I decided to choose an appropriate interview outfit consisting of a silk blouse and a skirt. For my Vogue Paris interview, I chose to keep my outfit more on the conservative side. For my Elle interview, I decided to convey wealth and conspicuous leisure through dress. When deciding which accessories to add, I made sure the accessories either had a visible and easily recognizable logo or is eye catching and sparkly. 

Weds. March 9th 11am
Conservative Outfit for Vogue Paris Interview:
Rag & Bone Blouse, BCBG Skirt, Miu Miu Bag

Fri. Mar. 4th 3pm:
Flashy Outfit for Elle Interview:
Eryn Brinie Trench, Sly Rabbit Fur Vest, Silk Blouse, 3.1 Phillip Lim Collar, Alexander McQueen Scarf, D&G belt, Zara Skirt, Louis Vuitton Bag

            My interview at Vogue Paris was exactly what I predicted. I walked in with my conservative interview attire and waited patiently at the front desk and two interviewers came in, the female in with jeans and heels and the male jeans and leather oxfords. As jeans are considered “slang” dress meaning that it “tends to be loose, relaxed and colorful” (Lurie 8), both interviewers gave off a casual chic aura and I wondered if their personality matched what her clothes were communicating. Lurie states that “sartorial communication... can also be used to convey misinformation” which can voluntary or involuntary but careful manipulation of dress can shape other people’s first impression (Lurie 24). Was my prospective supervisors free spirited who has fun with their interns or are very uptight? I quickly discovered that it was the former as the interview was fairly casual and it allowed me to ask them what their previous experience was before working at Vogue Paris. Both interviewers were easy to talk to and they made me feel as if I were talking to my peers rather than superiors. However, when I first stepped into the Elle office with my flashy attire, I noticed that I was significantly over-dressed and I felt uncomfortable while I was waiting for my interviewer. Irving Goffman states that the concept of “proper dress” is “dependent on the situation” and the person “whose clothes do not conform to these standards is more or less subtly excluded from participation” and I wondered how my fur and rhinestones will affect the interviewer’s impression of me. My interviewer wore a plain black shift dress and 4 inch heels and I was relieved when she was heavily accessorized. She first commented on how she liked my collar and proceeded to ask me routine questions. After I told her about my past experiences and extracurricular activities, she asked me several questions about my work ethic. She asked how I would rate my work ethic on a scale of 1 to 10 and asked if I was willing to stay late if necessary. I was completely taken aback by how in depth she wanted me to talk about my work ethic. However, my interview with her was much longer than my interview at Vogue Paris so I hoped she found something favourable in me.

Damhorst’s study claims that employee’s first impression is very closely associated with what she wears and often correlates with her work ethic and behaviour. In the blog post “Should Women Avoid Carrying Birkins to Work?”, a reader asks whether it is appropriate for her to bring her Birkin to work at a small big law firm. People often advise to dress the position you would want to have but others advise to dress appropriate to your level at work. The blogger concludes that “the intern with a $9000 bag” may have negative connotations that would hurt the intern in the work place. The blogger states “you may find you have to work even harder to get the respect that you deserve” because people might think you’re “not working for money” (“Should Women Avoid Carrying Birkins to Work?”, 2010). This is similar in Damhorst’s study that the employee’s dress is reflective of her work ethic. Damhorst states that “those who are reviewed as expressing organizational values in dress and other behaviours are likely to receive greater validation for their appearances from persons in power in the organization” (Damhorst 49). Similarly, a contributor to the blog post “WTF Do I Wear to a Fashion Job Interview?” states, “Whenever I see recent grads dressed [head to toe in designer labels] I can’t help but think, spoiled little rich girl. Is she going to give me diva attitude when I’m having her cut swatches and make copies at 9pm at night?” (“WTF Do I wear to a Fashion Job Interview?”, 2009).

             The fashion industry is difficult to dress appropriately for because each work environment has a different aesthetic and vibe. In an interview for the Fall issue of NYChic Magazine (pg 63-68), I asked fashion interns what the office environment was like at their internship ranging from Elle, Vogue, Karla Otto, Miu Miu, and Nick Knight Studio. The general consensus was that the interns were expected to dress more casual than their supervisors while still looked put together. In contrast, their superiors were often very dressed up (head to toe in Miu Miu or Prada at the corporate office) and are more feminine in heels and chiffon dresses. The corporate world and the fashion industry are almost polar opposites and in the corporate world, Damhorst claims that exhibitionism “may discredit the image of professionalism… [because of] extreme consequence of fashion” and “highly fashion forward [women] in the work place draws too much attention to [herself]” (53).

            I decided to interview interns and supervisors regarding interview attire at my current internship at 3.1 Phillip Lim. I asked each intern what they wore for their interview and each intern generally wore the same thing consisting of a skirt with a cashmere sweater or blouse and a pair of heels or heeled boots. One intern asked her friend if it would be wise to wear 3.1 Phillip Lim to the interview and her friend strongly objected. I interviewed two sales assistants after they interviewed a girl for a sales internship position about the influence of dress on the interview. One sales assistant stated that while it is important what the intern wears for the interview, she does not associate the interviewee’s interview attire to her ability to work. She judges the interviewee’s clothes to better understand if the potential intern is interested in fashion and trends and whether or not she understands the brand’s aesthetic. The other sales assistant emphasized that he would not hire anyone who wears jean overalls or wears anything with large logos from Abercrombie. However, he later states that certain logos are acceptable. One thing I found extremely interesting was that they both agreed that they wouldn’t negatively judge a potential intern who shows up at the interview with an  $8000 Hermes Birkin or $700 Christian Louboutin heels. Furthermore, while some people believe that dressing head to toe in the brand’s clothes seem like one is trying too hard, both sales assistants disagree and encourage the interviewee to represent the brand to the fullest.

            I realized that dressing flashy did not necessarily result in bad connotations as my Elle interviewer spent more time questioning me to make me truly prove my capabilities. Like several blogs have stated, one has to push oneself more to sell herself if she chooses to communicate conspicuous leisure and consumption. By proving to the interviewer wrong and erasing the “spoiled little rich girl” impression, perhaps flashy dress is a good tactic to get the interviewer’s attention but should still have relevant experience in her resume. I didn’t hear back from Vogue Paris but I was offered a summer internship at Elle as an accessories intern. The fashion industry has a completely different set of rules when it comes for office appropriate attire as there are no rules but the limitations are a slippery slope. Through my field experiment, I realized that dressing conservatively works against the interviewee when looking for a job or internship in a luxury brand company or a high-end fashion magazine because the interviewer meets with many prospective interns that dress the same.

__________________

Bibliography

Bauman, Zygmunt. Consuming Life. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2007.

Damhorst, Mary Lynn and Patricia A. Kimle. “Symbolic Interaction: A Grounded Theory Model of the Ideal Business Image for Women.” Caliber 20(1) (1997): 45-66.

Lurie, Alison. The Language of Clothes. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2000. pp.4-36

“Should Women Avoid Carrying Birkins to Work?” Corporette.  Access Date: 21 March 2011.  <http://corporette.com/2010/06/03/the-intern-with-the-9000-handbag>

“WTF Do I wear to a Fashion Job Interview?”  39thandbraodway.com.  Access Date: 21 March 2011.  < http://www.39thandbroadway.com/wtf-wear-fashion-interview>

What Does Your Bag Say About You?

The Purse Forum and The Bag Forum are where handbag enthusiasts gather and discuss brand name and members often post pictures of their bag collection and offer support and advice to other members. The Purse Forum states that they are “the Web’s #1 destination for enthusiasts of authentic designer handbags and accessories” with over “250 000 registered members” (“About PurseBlog”). Both forums’ members are made of predominantly women from a variety of ages and professions and after thorough observation, I categorized the members into the following groups: the recent high school and college graduates group lusting for their first big purchase, the working girls who just started their collection, and the established bag collectors who either invests all their savings in their bags or has a very generous husband (usually the latter is the case). In Lynn Yaeger’s “Carried Away”, she states that “if a serious bag once signified that you were grown-up, now the brand name on your bag signifies what kind of grown-up you are” (Yaeger 1) and members of these forums are perfectly aware and agree that “if you’re carrying a $1000 Christian Dior bag, it doesn’t matter if you’re wearing a jogging suit from Kmart—people will assume you’re wealthy because of the bag” (Yaeger 2).

In my mediated field experiment, I was particularly interested in a section of the forum called “Your Bag Showcase” in The Purse Forum and “Show off your Bags” in The Bag Forum. I decided to closely observe the threads and note any particular patterns as well as start threads and post comments to invite other members to interact with me. In the bag showcase section, members take individual photos of each purse they own showcasing their purse collection. I didn’t understand why members would take the time to post every bag they own to show strangers what they have in their closet. What was the allure of these forums for the members? Why did they choose to look at a stranger’s collection of bags when they can shop online for the same results? After reading several threads, I have realized that there is an unwritten law of how to photograph your bags and only brands that would appear in an issue of Vogue are considered worthy of being posted. For my mediated field experiment, I decided to post pictures of my bag collection in the exact manner other members have done so in order to fit in. Members usually photograph their bags with their original dust bag or box that it came in. For my pictures, I photographed my bags in front of a white backdrop and I included their original dust bag and stuffed the bags to give it shape. Some members group their bags by brand and/or style and put them in one photo to display her collection. While the forums are focused on bags, I have noticed that other members included pictures of small leather goods, such has key holders or wallets, as long as they were brand name so I decided to include anything else I had that was brand named. I posted my bag collection on the Bag Forum and titled it “My Small Collection”. I decided to state that I was a college student in hopes of steering people’s impression of me and getting people to question how I acquired my collection. I didn’t expect a lot of replies because first of all, I don’t own a lot of brand name bags and second of all, the members are avid collectors and Hermes Birkin and hard-to-find limited edition bags are absent from my collection.

My Bag Showcase:

Within 3 days, I got 7 replies and all of them complimented on how much they loved my collection and one even said, “You have a dream team here!” and all of the sudden, complete strangers envied my bag collection and some even gave me advice when I asked what I should get for my next bag. I avoided lengthy captions for each picture to remain anonymous and I wondered how other members judged me based on my possessions as Simmel states that “every property is an extension of personality” (Simmel 84).

In Malcolm Gladwell’s Blink, the author highlights psychologist Samuel Gosling’s study that one can learn a lot about an individual by looking at her belongings. In both forums, members openly invited strangers to judge them based on their bag collection. Gladwell states that “our personal belongings contain a wealth of very telling information” (Gladwell 37). Gosling concluded that a person’s bedroom gives three clues to his or her personality and Gosling’s conclusion can be applied to a person’s closet. The members of the forum strategically choose what they want to display on the forum to mold the character they want to be perceived as. Gosling claims that the following can be concluded based on close observation of a person’s bedroom: identity claim, behavioural residue, and thoughts and feelings regulators. The identity claim based on a member’s bag collection is closely connected to her wealth or her significant other’s wealth. Most members use the Hermes Birkin or Kelly bag as their identity claim to prove that they have made it or their significant other is very generous. The member’s behavioural residue can be judged from the condition of her bags. Are the bags in shape and are in good condition? Are there any scratches? Is the leather dirty? The bags’ condition reflects how much the member values her bags and also reflects her lifestyle. For my pictures, I stuffed my bags to give it shape and changed the lighting on the pictures to hide the scratches. Lastly, thoughts and feelings regulators can be interpreted as accessories used to personalize the bag.

            To the members, a bag was more than a functional object that carried necessities. A bag connotes one’s style, characteristics, and social status that can be easily manipulated with the right bag. In Georg Simmel’s “Adornment”, Simmel states that “adornment gives one’s whole appearance, the sociological charm of being” and “the significance of his status, symbolized by jewels [handbags in this case]… enlarge his sphere of impact… [and] his social power… is transformed into visible, personal excellence” (Simmel 83). Simmel claims that adornment allows the individual to “distinguish himself before others, and to be the object of attention… to the point of wanting to be envied” (Simmel 80). 

Disclaimer for Members

The disclaimer for this thread in the Purse Forum heavily emphasizes that members should not “post fake bags. This showcase functions not only as eye candy for many, but also as a reference. Misleading members with faux bags is not acceptable” (“Rules for the Bag Showcase”). Authenticity is heavily emphasized as anyone can buy a knock-off but only certain people can afford the authentic version. This further emphasizes that “[the authentic bag owners] have something which you do not have” (Simmel 82). In “Adornment”, Simmel’s discussion of genuine material of jewelry can be applied to the emphasis on authentic bags. Simmel states that “their genuineness makes their aesthetic value” and similarly, in John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, the author makes a similar point with art and that an artwork’s market price is said “to be a reflection of its spiritual value” and if “it is authentic…, therefore it is beautiful”. 

Many members on the forum illustrates Thorstein Veblen’s point, in The Theory of the Leisure Class, that “without reflection or analysis, we feel that what is inexpensive is unworthy” and that “a cheap coat makes a cheap man” (Veblen 124). Similar to Berger’s claim that art’s aesthetic value is reflected from its market value, Veblen claims that “we find things beautiful… in proportion as they are costly” (Veblen 124). In the Purse Forum, there is a thread titled “ Do you buy unbranded bags?” and most members reasoned that they buy brand named bags because of its quality and durability—not for its symbolic connotations. I started a thread asking members whether they preferred bags with obvious flashy logos versus ones with subtle designer signature and while I didn’t get enough replies to make a concrete conclusion, one member stated that she prefers the latter because she “like the style to speak for itself”.

Peanutbabycake's Tri-colour Hermes Ostrich Birkin

The emphasis on the bags’ brand name in the forums often overshadow the bags’ aesthetics. One Purse Forum member, Peanutbabycakes, is infamous for her Hermes collection and her tri-colour ostrich Birkin made up of clashing dew green, orange, and red highlights how people think a bag is aesthetically pleasing purely based on its brand. If it weren’t for the bag’s iconic shape and brand, most people would not look at the bag twice. Peanutbabycakes has a thread with 3094 replies and 1 186 965 views over past 3 years and people are still commenting on her bag collection.

Peanutbabycake's Hermes Birkin Collection

Peanutbabycake's Hermes Kelly Collection

Peanutbabycake's TDF Closet

I was in awe when I first came across her thread because she owns currently owns 6 Hermes Birkin and 5 Hermes Kelly in various skins (for your reference, calf leather starts at around $8000 while ostrich and crocodile costs much more). My first question was: how did she afford all these bags? According to her captions, her husband funded her bag collection. Members have showered her with compliments and comments like “your collection is TDF (to die for)” and “I want to be you when I grow up”. Her captions state that her husband funds her Hermes addiction. Similar to Berger’s critique that people immediately place aesthetic value on artwork that has market value, Peanutbabycakes seem to buy Hermes bags for the sake of the brand and the connotations attached to an Hermes Birkin and Kelly. Both the Birkin and Kelly have a long waiting list and cannot be bought by simply walking in an Hermes store.

The Purse Forum and the Bag Forum celebrates materialism and conspicuous consumption but the forums are a mere extension of the plethora of fashion magazines that send the same message. The forums make me question how our personality and individual style is conveyed with a bag that numerous people own the same one. I personally find it vain that people take so much time taking pictures of items in their closet in hopes of being showered with compliments on their material possessions from strangers. By reading thread after thread, I conclude that the aesthetic and practicality of the bag is lost and only the brand matters in the end.

As a side experiment, in your comments on my journal post, I invite you to judge me based on my bags and try to figure out my personality based on my material possessions.

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Bibliography

“About PurseBlog.”  PurseBlog.  Modification Date: 17 March 2008.  Access Date: 24 February 2011.  < http://www.purseblog.com/about/>

Berger, John.  Ways of Seeing.  London: Penguin Books, 1972. 

Gladwell, Malcolm.  Blink. Back Bay Books: New York, 2005.

Simmel, Georg.  “Adornment.”  The Rise of Fashion.  Edited by Daniel Leonhard Purdy.  Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.  1908 (1997).

Veblen, Thorstein.  The Theory of the Leisure Class.  New York: Random House, 2001.

Yaeger, Lynn.  “Carried Away.”  The Atlantic Monthly (April 2007). <http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200704/yaeger-handbags>

"Wait... let me Facebook him..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7GgBlLxwH4

In the clip above, Drew Barrymore’s character in He’s Just Not That Into You expresses how difficult it is to communicate with a guy she likes and the plethora of new technology available has made the rules of dating so much more difficult. In today’s society, we are constantly connected—whether it is through cell phones, social networking sites, or instant messaging. However, technology has made the rules of dating so much more difficult.

Say you meet a friend’s friend briefly one night and you got each other’s cell phone number. There is an unwritten law that guys wait at least 3 days before they call—if they even call at all. By knowing the guy’s first name, you can easily search him on Facebook through your friend’s friend list. By seeing his limited profile, you can figure out his school, network, and age as well as browse through his profile pictures and judge his lifestyle based on the pictures he chooses to display. The profile picture is the first thing anyone notices on Facebook and in Ollivier Dyens’ Metal Flesh and the Evolution of Man: Technology Takes Over, the author states that we live in a technological reality “assembled by humans and machines” and it is “perceived, decoded, and encoded by a man/machine perception” (Dyens 10). Furthermore, Dyens claims that technology shapes our understanding of the world and as a result, nature can no longer “exist apart from technologies” (11). With so much information that can be learned through browsing one’s Facebook profile, first impressions are no longer based on face-to-face interaction. Dyens states that “machines coevolve with us; our respective existences are completely tied to each other” (11). Technology plays a large role in shaping our perception of others and it is difficult to change our perception of one’s virtual identity to coincide with their real identity.

Samsung's ad illustrates how different angles can hide flaws and alter your appearance for a more flattering profile picture:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhrZyFAbUCw

Girls often have double the amount of display pictures in their profile picture album compared to guys. Furthermore, girls put in more effort in angling their photos, adjusting the lighting, and meticulously choosing the most flattering photo that they want to display themselves with. In Susan Bordo’s The Male Body: A New Look at Men in Public and in Private, Bordo states that “it’s feminine to be on display” (Bordo 173) while men are “judged by their accomplishments” (174). In addition, women learn to “play into the sexualizing gaze”(173) and in Laura Mulvey’s “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, Mulvey associates the pleasure of viewing to Freud’s idea of scopophilia. Freud defines scopophilia as “taking other people as objects [and] subjecting them to a controlling and curious gaze” (Mulvey 9). Facebook photos allow “the erotic basis for pleasure in looking at another person as object” (9). Furthermore, Facebook allows people to create their identity with their profile and girls often use this opportunity to exhibit a more sensuous self that they are too shy to portray in real life. Girls portray a 2D sexuality by posing suggestively and wearing revealing clothing in order to attract more attention. A study of MySpace claims that females are more “likely to display sexually explicit content online” and after studying MySpace pages that contain sexual content, the study shows that 60% of the pages came from teen girls (Cohen, 2010). In Claudia Benthien’s Skin: On the Cultural Border Between Self and the World, Benthien claims that touch used to be associated with “closeness, intimacy, and eroticism” but with the plethora of new technology we have today, interactive touch in the new media can be defined as teletactility: “the sensual experience of closeness and intimacy… linked with anonymity and physical distance” (Benthien 221). Facebook allows individuals to flirt with one another through wall posts, private messages, “liking” one’s posts, or “poking” (which holds more sexual connotation) but Benthien highlights that these “cyber-sexual implications” result in “intimacy through interface [which is] intimacy without proximity” (Benthien 227). 

An example of racy photos posted on Facebook or sent through text. (I found this photo through Google)

 A recent trend in sexting has allowed teens to engage in “intimacy without proximity” (227). People can now say sexually explicit things and portray a promiscuous identity that one may be afraid to do so face to face. This allows teens to create an alluring illusion that they’re sexually available and sexually experienced. Sexting illustrates Benthien’s claim that “Sexual experience of the future is autoerotic and narcissistic” (226) and Facebook also aids this narcissistic sexual experience as girls try to attract attention by posting sexually suggestive photos in hopes of getting compliments from friends and strangers to boost their self-confidence. Sexual experience through technology “requires more of an organizer than a partner” (226) compliments online is a mere ego-boost and by actively posting these photos and exposing one’s virtual identity, one can actively pursue virtual sexual experience from an infinite number of people. Similarly, cell phones have allowed people to engage several people at once with a few texts anywhere, anytime. With technology, the user can actively interact with many people until the user is satisfied with the outcome. 

"Life is short. Have an Affair"

Does technology aid or inhibit the rules of dating? With Facebook, you can monitor another’s actions and postings while Blackberry messaging indicates whether the receiver has read your message, making you wonder why the receiver has not replied. In a world of immediacy, Drew Barrymore’s character in He’s Just Not That Into You shows overaccessibility from technology is preventing us from having interpersonal interaction. Online dating websites such as Match and eHarmony advocates that technology helps you find love more efficiently than in person. However, Ashley Madison, a dating website targeted to married people, changes the rules drastically. 

Ashley Madison's Controversial Ads:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahPsgo5_pbE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ7IuSG5Ra8&feature=related

Their slogan “Life is too short. Have an affair” promotes infidelity but the founder claims that many people are in sexless marriages and do not want to leave their spouses and with the aid of technology and Ashley Madison, the founder claims that the company “preserves more marriages than [they] break up (Daum, 2009). Similarly, Dr. Moreno’s study indicate while teens are using technology to reference sexual behaviour, technology allows a “public forum” for teens to discuss sexual behaviour and “‘test out’ their sexual identities before ‘moving into this world of being a sexual person’” (Cohen, 2010). While teens may post sexually explicit photos of themselves, this outlet of sexual expression allows them postpone sexual involvement in the real world until they are ready.

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Benthien, Claudia.  Skin: On the Cultural Boarder between Self and the World. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.

Bordo, Susan.  The Male Body: A New Look at Men in Public and in Private. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000.

Cohen, Tobi.  “Explicit teen tweets a clue for parents it may be time to talk sex: study.”  Vancouver Sun.  Modification Date: 1 May 2010.  Access Date: 17 November 2010.  < http://www.vancouversun.com/life/ Explicit+teen+tweets+clue+parents+time+talk+study/2975304/story.html>

Daum, Meghan.  “Ashley Madison’s Secret Success.”  LA Times.  Modification Date: 10 January 2009.  Access Date: 17 November 2010.  < http://articles.latimes.com/ 2009/jan/10/opinion/oe-daum10>

Dyens, Ollivier.  Metal Flesh and the Evolution of Man: Technology Takes Over. Boston: The MIT Press, 2001.

Mulvey, Laura.  “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” Screen 16.3 Autumn 1975 pp. 6-18 <http://www.jahsonic.com/VPNC.html>

Childhood Robbed

Gibson Girl to the Vamp: Cher from Clueless (1995), Regina from Mean Girls (2004), to Evie (left) in Thirteen

Throughout the 90’s and the early 00’s, the popular girl in teen movies seems like the exact replica in each movie. She was tall, often blonde, conventionally beautiful, skinny, have nice clothes, wealthy, has a good-looking boyfriend, and the entire student body would bend over backwards for her. The popular girl didn’t necessarily have to be sexually experienced, as Cher in Clueless (1995) was virgin, but she must be attractive to the opposite sex. In the movie Thirteen, the popular girl image shifted from the Gibson Girl to the Vamp. She is no longer a girl of a “coveted social status” (Kitch 39) and came from wealth, like a Gibson Girl, but she still used her “beauty [as her] greatest asset” (40). The movie shows a shift in the popular girl image— from the all American girl-next-door to the dark and sexual vamp. The popular girl now is a temptress and she has no issues with expressing her sexuality. The shift in image of the popular girl to a hypersexualized version becomes evident as sexual experience becomes synonymous with popularity. In Mean Girls (2004), queen bee Regina George hooks up with other guys while dating her boyfriend, and in Gossip Girl (2007), socialite Serena Van Der Woodsen has sex with countless guys, including her best friend’s boyfriend and a married man, before she is barely legal. Why has teen media shifted towards using sex for shock value as most of these girls have barely reached the age of consent? What encourages young girls to act promiscuous for attention?

Erotically Charged Ads for CW's Gossip Girl

Advertising has played a large part in shaping the way we think and how we perceive ourselves. We unconsciously internalize the ideologies presented in advertising and we compare our reality to the reality presented in ads. Our society became drastically eroticized over the past few decades and advertising has contributed to the change. During the late 1940’s and 1950’s, “a general wave of propaganda that had served to discipline the minds and the habits of American women” and in Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, she claims that the erotic as a sex tool was a way for “men [to] use sex to blind women to their real need: freedom” (Rutherford 147). During the late 1960’s and 1970’s, advertisers saw the success of “the erotic sell” and advertising shifted towards being more sexually charged (Rutherford 127). While using the illusion of sex as an advertising tool was to limit women’s freedom, over the years, women have gained a false consciousness that they are liberating themselves by actively choosing what to buy. Women falsely believe that “to be able to buy is the same as being sexually desirable” (Wykes 86). Shopping has become a bonding session for women and they find comfort in retail therapy. In Paul Rutherford’s A World Made Sexy, the author accounts for this false belief to an “eroticized” economy and a “commodified” libido (Rutherford 6). Regardless of the product, advertisers recognize the shock value that came with sexually suggestive advertisements as they make people stop and stare. In women’s magazines, almost all ads feed into the women’s false consciousness that they need products to be attractive. Naomi Wolf further reinforces this as “a commodified ‘beauty’ [links] directly and explicitly to sexuality” (Wolf 11).

Screenshots from Thirteen: Skyy Blue ad, Calvin Klein ad, & Gentlemen's Club ad

Everyday, we are so bombarded with ads that we no longer notice them and “the erotic sell” has to be borderline pornographic for the ad to be noticed (Rutherford 127). The placement of advertisements in Thirteen is a realistic portrayal of how advertisements are dispersed in reality. While ads are ubiquitous, it often blends in with our surroundings and it takes careful observation to actually see the ads. During the protagonist Tracy’s bus ride to spend time with popular girl Evie for the first time, the camera focuses on the glamorous advertisements that Tracy passes by on her way to Melrose Avenue. The camera focuses on four ads— three of which are erotically charged ads. A SKYY Blue vodka ad with a sweaty coupled wearing next to nothing, a Calvin Klein ad with topless models, and a gentleman’s club ad with a nude female performer are highlighted as Tracy gets closer to Melrose Avenue.

"Beauty is Truth" Ad's First Appearance in the Movie

"Beauty is Truth" Ad's Many Appearances throughout the Movie

As she gets off the bus, a beauty ad with the copy “Beauty is Truth” is prominently displayed and the same ad is shown repeated throughout the movie at various points of her life. In Tracy’s room, various ads, including the “Beauty is Truth” ad, are plastered around her room. Everyday, Tracy would wake up to the beauty myth defined by Naomi Wolf as “the quality called ‘beauty’ [that] objectively and universally exists. Women must want to embody it and men want to possess women who embody it” (Wolf 12). By seeing these images everyday, Tracy becomes brainwashed to believing that there is only one acceptable form of beauty. When I was younger, I would tape ads and pictures of celebrities and models around my room as well but I never thought of how influential these images can be on young teenage girls growing up. The “Beauty is Truth” ad appears in Tracy’s bedroom, the poster appears when Tracy is drunk on the streets, and again in the end of the movie when Tracy calls Evie after Evie ignores Tracy at school. The ad is vandalized at the end of the movie which symbolizes Tracy breaking her friendship off from Evie—the destructive beauty that Tracy wants to become.

Tracy surrounds herself with unrealistic beauty

Throughout the movie, Tracy’s admiration for Evie is evident. Evie attracts everyone’s attention with just a glimpse of her presence. Described as “the hottest girl in school” by the protagonist’s brother, Evie embodies the characteristics of a vamp: “sin”, “illicit sex”, “temptation” (Kitch 58), “dark, [and] sexual” (61). On the first day of school, the boys claim that “looks like [Evie] grew up this summer”, implying she has matured and developed curves. Tracy closely observes the attention Evie gets from the boys as she walks by in tight low-rise jeans and a revealing lace-up top that is short enough to show her belly ring. While Tracy’s classmates admired Evie for her beauty, Tracy was envious of what Evie’s beauty got her. In Naomi Wolf’s The Beauty Myth, she states that people want “beauty” because of what it involves: “the attention of people we do not know, rewards for things we did not earn, … the promise of confidence, sexuality, and self-regard of a healthy individuality” (Wolf 285). As Tracy slowly molds herself to look like Evie, her confidence slowly reflects how much skin she is showing. However, Tracy’s relationship with her skin becomes a battle between love and hate. The claim that “skin [is] the place ‘where the ego is decided’” reflects how Tracy is searching for her identity (Benthien 1). Tracy and Evie uses skin as a “projection surface and a fetish” with their revealing low cut tops and deliberately pulling their thongs above their jeans. Tracy enjoys the attention she gets when she reveals more skin but social acceptance and attention from boys is not enough to counter her body image issues as well as her problems with her father. The skin is also “a place of wounds and stigmatization” and Tracy’s hate for her body is reflected as she cuts herself to cope with her pain and family issues (Benthien 3).

Tracy's transformation into Evie is complete

If advertising continues to use sexuality as a tool of advertising, how harmful will its impact be for future generations? Advertising greatly influences the media and with the trend of hypersexual and promiscuous teens dominating television and movies, the younger generation may slowly be robbed of their childhood. With only one type of beauty represented in a hypersexualized society, what can we change now to prevent teens from going down the same path as Tracy in Thirteen?

Benthien, Claudia.  Skin: On the Cultural Border Between Self and the World. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002.

Kitch, Carolyn.  The Girl on the Magazine Cover: The Origins of Visual Stereotypes in American Mass Media. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000.

Rutherford, Paul.  A World Made Sexy.  Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2007.

Wolf, Naomi.  The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty are Used Against Women. New York: Harpers Perennial, 2002.

Wykes, Maggie.  The Media and Body Image: If Looks Could Kill. New York: Sage Publications Ltd, 2005.

The “Beauty” of Today’s Halloween Costumes

Beauty and the Body in an Imaged Society

Journal #1

Halloween in the US has come a long way since its origins. Over 2000 years ago, the Celts first dressed up for Halloween in celebration of the sacred bonfires that signified sacrifices to the Celtic deities The costumes usually consisted of animal heads and skins and the European immigrants brought the tradition over to America (“Halloween”). It wasn’t until the 1920s and 1930s that Halloween became a secular, community holiday and eventually, the holiday was geared towards young children. Today, Americans spend approximately “$6.9 billion annually… making it the country’s second largest commercial holiday” (“Halloween”). Costumes have shifted dramatically from the Celts dressed up as scary characters to overtly sexy costumes that are popular today.

Foreplay Catalog encouraging shoppers to be "The Sexiest Girl" this Halloween

There has been a drastic shift from scary and grotesque costumes to hypersexualized child-like costumes. Why are the “Sexy (fill in the blank)” costumes so much more appealing and popular to women today? Do women favour the sexy Halloween costumes over the scary ones because of beauty and attraction? In Umberto Eco’s On Ugliness, the author highlights that beauty has been associated with the bodily proportions established by Vitruvius in Ancient Greece—“the face was one tenth of the total length, the head one eighth, the length of the torso one quarter…” (Eco 159). However, the only proportion applicable to today’s Halloween costumes is fabric to skin ratio—approximately 1:10.

Sexy Granny 

It is interesting to note that young female costumes, such as the School Girl, the Girl Scout, and various fairy tale protagonists, are more popular than mature or older female costumes. Why is Sexy Granny not offered as an alternative? Why is it unpopular to put on a grey wig, fake wrinkles, and wear an oversized and unflattering printed dress? In On Ugliness, Eco states that in the Middle Ages, ugliness was portrayed as an “old woman, a symbol of physical and moral decay” in juxtaposition to “youth as a symbol of beauty and purity” (Eco 159). Similarly, in Roger Scruton’s Beauty, he traces the idea of beauty and purity to Plato and Aquinas. Plato’s view on beauty that it “is an ultimate value—something that we pursue for its own sake… therefore [beauty should] be compared to truth and goodness” (Scruton 2). Similarly, Aquinas thought that, “Beauty and goodness are, in the end, identical” (Scruton 4). This idea of beauty and goodness continues to be reinforced in the variety of Halloween costumes today. Foreplay Catalog, a popular on-line store for adult Halloween costumes, offers a plethora of innocent and morally good characters. Meanwhile, only pirate, witch, gangster, and vampire are the only evil characters available in a sexy reinterpretation. Foreplay Catalog’s overwhelming selection of costumes ironically lacks variation and further reinforces that only youth is desirable and attractive.

Sexy Snow White

From an early age, young girls learn about beauty in goodness in the form of fairy tales and Disney movies. In Nancy Etcoff’s “Beauty as Bait”, she highlights Robin Lakoff and Raquel Scherr’s quotation, “Beauty is not instantly and instinctively recognizable: we must be trained from childhood to make those discriminations” (Etcoff 31). Young girls begin to associate beauty with Disney princesses after watching similar portrayals of women in similar storylines. They learn early on that “good triumphs over evil” and “once upon a time…” will end in “happily-ever-after in the form of marriage to a handsome prince” (Linn 37). Furthermore, they learn that villains are “thoroughly bad… [and] ugly” and their “physical traits reflect character flaws” (Linn 38). Disney’s depiction of bad and ugly does not differ from Baldassare Castiglione’s definition of ugliness in the 16^th century. Castiglione explains that “ugliness is a sign of the bad, mad or dangerous. Deformities, ugliness, and disease were seen as stigmas branded onto the body by a wrathful God…. [and] the ugly are also evil” (Etcoff 41). The portrayal of beauty and morality versus ugliness and evil in the Middle Ages continues to be perpetuated in fairy tales. Disney heroines are “as beautiful as they are good” (Linn 38) and evil characters are easily identified due to their physical imperfections. In Susan Linn’s “A Royal Juggernaut”, the author claims that young girls familiarize themselves with “what it means to be female” through the portrayal of Disney Princesses and molds their own “view of femininity based on stereotypes of beauty, race, class, and behaviour” (Linn 40). While working with an 8-year-old girl who had Aperts Syndrome, the author learned that the young girl hates playing make-belief with her classmates because “they always make me be the witch or the monster” due to her facial deformities (Linn 38).  

Example of Sexualized Teen Costumes

Today, Halloween is the one day that girls feel it is socially acceptable to dress as provocatively as possible. However, with the introduction of sexy teen costumes, costume companies are encouraging girls to dress more provocative at a younger age which is further reinforced by the media. The teen movie Mean Girls illustrates that by wearing a conservatively covered costume, one will not be socially or physically attractive. Protagonist Cady Heron learns that “Halloween is the one night of the year when girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything about it” (Mean Girls, 2004). Cady realizes this the hard way as she arrives at a party dressed as a zombie bride while her peers are dressed in next to nothing—only in lingerie and animal ears. The protagonist immediately feels insecure and self-conscious about her costume. Because she was unaware of Halloween social norms, she chose a scary grotesque costume and her lack of self-confidence is reflected by her costume. This is further reinforced by Etcoff’s conclusions from a study where psychologists gave a Polaroid of a woman to a man who is talking to an unknown woman. When a man was given a Polaroid of a beautiful woman, Etcoff claims that “she [becomes] more animated and confident in conversations with men who believed her to be good-looking” and she “[sounds] attractive when she was presumed to be attractive” (Etcoff 47).

Cady (left) dressed as a Zombie Bride in Mean Girls

Plato states that “let him be aware that he will behave in a similar fashion” (Etcoff 42) and if one believes one is a fox, one will act like a fox. Halloween functions like an ego boost and as girls venture out in their sexy costumes, they give off a more attractive and confident personality as they feed off from the attention they receive from men. The appeal of morally good and sexy Halloween costumes is closely tied to the concept of beauty. If beauty is synonymous with good, perhaps it is why people avoid evil costumes so they will not be associated with ugliness. While sexy Halloween costumes seems harmless, it becomes dangerous when pre-mature girls dress provocatively when they are still learning about themselves. Because the young girls will receive an overwhelming amount of attention from men, they will mistakenly believe that flaunting their body is the only way to attract.

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Bibliography

Eco, Umberto.  On Ugliness.  Milan: Rizzoli International Publications, 2007.

Etcoff, Nancy.  Survival of the Prettiest: The Science of Beauty.  Ch 2, Beauty as Bait,” pp. 29-53.

“Halloween.”  History.  A&E Television Networks.  Modification Date: 2010. Access Date: 4 October 2010.  <http://www.history.com/topics/halloween/>

Linn, Susan.  “A Royal Juggernaut.”  In S. Olfman (Eds.), The Sexualization of Childhood (pp 33-50).        London: Praeger, 2009.

Mean Girls.  Film.  Paramount Pictures.  2004

Scruton, Richard.  Beauty.  New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.