Fashion, Gender and Identity

‘Gender is a meaning that a culture assigns to sexual differences’ and within gender, ‘masculinity’ and ‘femininity’ are the divisions that a culture creates between behaviour and ‘characteristics considered to be appropriate to men and women’ (Barnard, 2007, 185- 186). Fashion aids in the social construction of gender through separating male and female fashion and promoting the stereotypical feminine figure. From the days of stays and petticoats to corsets and crinolines and now with padded bras and ‘Spanx’, fashion has seen centuries of shrinking and augmentation of the body to achieve the sexualised, ‘feminine’ shape. The ‘communicative function’ of the body and they way in which it is moulded is like a ‘language’ – a ‘cultural communication’ (Thesander, 1997, 11). Being 'feminine' is just one of many ‘performances’ that people can choose to present and a person’s choice to follow more typically feminine or masculine styles can provide an insight into who they are (Gauntlett, 2008, 11). Although certain guidelines may be socially expected, in the western world, we are largely in control of what we wear and thus are perpetually communicating some element of personal identity every time we get dressed, whether it is intentional or subconscious. Using the visual examples of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France and a fashion icon in the late 18th century and Lady Gaga, a current fashion and pop icon, this essay demonstrates how, even though centuries have passed, the practice of augmenting and shrinking the figure through fashion garments to achieve a ‘feminine’ shape has continued to perpetuate social constructions of femininity. Then, the example of Andrej Pejic is used to demonstrate how appearance can communicate identity, in particular gender identity.

Beginning in the 16th century in Europe, ‘women's bodies were universally forced into bizarre, unnatural shapes’ (Smith, 1998, 5). Stays, petticoats, corsets and crinolines with stiff fabric, boning and wire