This thesis attempts to survey the function of clothing adornment practices as a form social communication. It is shown that clothing enables the formation and distinction of social groups. The ways in which clothing becomes symbolic for a group and the way in which this system is challenged and/or destroyed are also examined. A distinction between fashion and antifashion is made to enable a repositioning of the Western system of dress into a wider context of meaning. Assumptions on the nature of appearance as related to the concept of truth are examined. Chapter One looks at the various and contradictory myths of body ideals, challenging the opposition of nature and culture. Chapter Two examines the uniform and applies its characteristics to all forms of dress. Chapter Three provides a brief summary of the history of sumptuary laws and how they operate in the social world. Throughout this work, common sense assumptions and privileged reading of particular theoretical frameworks are challenged. Theory itself is subject to fashion, allowing for a comparison to be made between human adornment and the methodologies that attempt to define its practices.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.69551 |
| Date | January 1993 |
| Creators | Darroch, Lynne M. |
| Contributors | Kaite, Berkeley (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Graduate Communications Program.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001341645, proquestno: AAIMM87870, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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