I decided to explore Malcolm Bernard’s Fashion as Communication Because I was interested in etymology and I was surprised at how much I learned from this text. The section I am interested in is a description of etymology and what it means in terms of the word ‘fashion’. It states that “the original senses of fashion, then, referred to activities” (Barnard: 1996), as the word fashion originally derived from the Latin ‘factio’ meaning to do or to create. However, Bernard also explores the changing definition of this word, as he states “fashion was something one did, unlike now, perhaps, when fashion is something that one wears. The original sense of fashion also refers to the idea of a fetish”(Barnard: 1996) meaning an inanimate object that is ‘worshipped’ rather than a physical task. Personally, reading this section has given me a better understanding of fashion as I understand now the definition means the process of creating while garments (what we refer to as fashion) are the outcome.

This section also delves into the meaning of fashion as clothing and its symbolic purposes as Barnard states “every day we make decisions about the social status and role of the people we meet based on what they are wearing” (Barnard: 1996).

This suggests that garments can be called fashion because they still do something as their purpose is communicating one’s personality or position. For example, wearing a work uniform communicates your position at work or the specific job you do, whilst wearing your everyday clothes communicates your tastes, or even wearing the same shirt for a couple of days communicates that you’re busy and don’t have the time to actively think about specific clothing choices. Even when the clothing people wear doesn’t communicate personality or taste it communicates something about the wearer.

However, during the 80s women born in the ‘baby boom’ period after the war were career driven and excelled in the work place as women were now excepted in the workplace as they had previously proved themselves in the war when they filled the positions men were unable to fill. “As bank vice presidents, members of corporate boards, and partners at law firms, professional women became secure enough to ignore the foolish runway frippery that bore no connection to their lives” (Agins: 1999).

However, Barnard’s views arguably disagree with Agins’s statement as the quote I previous used contradict Agins’s, as Barnard stated that “every day we make decisions about the social status and role of the people we meet based on what they are wearing” (Barnard: 1996). Arguably women in the workplace are consciously making the decision to dress more like men to detach themselves from femininity, in order to be taken seriously, and so it could be argued that they understand the definitions of fashion as they are actively creating a look for themselves that communicates their professionalism and desire to work for themselves without discrimination.

Bibliography

Barnard. M (1996) Fashion as Communication. 11 new fetter lane EC4P 4EE, Routledge.

Agins. T (1999) The End of Fashion. 195 Broardway, New York, NY 10007. HarperCollinsPublishers.