Fashion designed for dress, which should be inextricably linked to the body, should not be seen as merely a "text" and symbol. Fashion studies in recent years have unearthed new paths for looking at fashion, all of which emphasize the fact that fashion is not only a visual experience, but also a tactile or embodied form. The phenomenology of the French philosopher Melo Ponty offers a new perspective on our production of fashion as a certain mode of bodily behavior.
From this perspective, many fashion phenomena have richer explanations. For example, tattoos may become popular among young people not because of their patterns, but because of the common experience of the tattoo process. Behind the differences between western and Japanese traditional clothing, there is also a new understanding of the relationship between the body and space. Merleau-Ponty's intellectual resources have influenced the way we look at fashion and the practice of the fashion industry. The following is an excerpt from "Fashion Inspiration: An Introduction to Key Thinkers" with the permission of the publisher, with deletions and subtitles added by the editors.
Excerpt from | Liu Yaguang
Original authors| Angane Rocamora, Annick Smolik
The Inspiration of Fashion: An Introduction to Key Thinkers, by Angane Rocamora and Annike Smallik, Chongqing University Press, December 2020, translated by Chen Tao/ Li Yi
Merleau-Ponty and the New Materialism:
Renew the focus on physical experience
The phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty emphasizes the embodied nature of our experience of the world and can be applied to the field of fashion. At the heart of Merleau-Ponty phenomenology is the understanding of the body. In his view, the body is not a passive recipient of external stimuli, but a medium through which we experience the world. Our body is not an objective being independent of the mind and without action, but a means by which we know the world and express ourselves.
Merleau-Ponty believes that the body is our primary place of understanding the world, anchoring our experience of the world in our engagement with it. Thus, Merleau-Ponty sought to confront the pillar of the Western philosophical tradition: the dualism of mind and body. In Merleau-Ponty's view, it is fundamentally wrong to think of the body as something external to ourselves and to evaluate it as if it were anything else. After all, the body is different from other things, and we cannot be separated from it. In fact, the body is our medium of knowing and experiencing the world, and they are an integral part of our being-in-the-world. The reason why we think we can see our bodies from some external perspective is based entirely on the false premise that the mind can be separated from the body. But the mind does not exist independently from following Cartesian dualism, and we have always inhabited the body. As Merlot Ponty put it:
The perceptual mind is an incarnated mind. I'm trying to... Reconstructing the foundations of the mind in the body and the world, opposing the simple understanding of perception as the body's response to external activities, and also opposing the autonomy of consciousness.
Merleau-Ponty argues that our contact with the world is not based on a purely spiritual construct of the Cartesian cogito or on the transcendental framework of Kantian idealism, but is achieved through the subtle forms of practical knowledge. This practical knowledge is always embedded in habitual bodily schemas. In other words, it is these forms of practical knowledge, rooted in our physical existence, that guide our interactions with the world. The mind exists in our bodies, and the physical schema governs our perception of the world. Thus, the body is not "an objective object in the world" but "our understanding of the world."
It is true that we evaluate ourselves in a more conscious way when we look in the mirror, but even the self-image in the mirror is never completely separated from our somatosensory experience. In fact, our senses of sight and touch are always intertwined. To this end, Merlot-Ponty writes:
The self-image in the mirror reminds me of the original body, which is not between things, but within myself, what I see... The reason that prevents it from becoming an external object is precisely the existence of the external object... The body is not an external object, but a means by which we communicate with external objects. It lurks in all our experiences and its own existence, and lies before every thought we have.
Therefore, we can never detach ourselves from our bodies and treat them as external objects. Our knowledge of our own body depends not only on the visual image of ourselves, but also on the kinaesthetic sense of the body, which comes from our physical entanglement with the world. This explains the phenomenon of the so-called "phantom limb". The amputee can still feel the presence of the limb despite visually losing it. There is a contradiction between the amputee's physical memory and the visual image. In other words, this "pre-refl ective" physical experience is more fundamental than the conscious gaze of the body as an external object, which is based on inferences based on the former.
Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology presents new developments in contemporary body theory. The most important of these is the emphasis on the materiality and "physical" nature of the body. However, social theorists have always paid more attention to the cultural construction of the body, viewing the body simply as a product of the social meaning system, but ignoring the physical nature of the body. The body constructed from cultural symbols is only text and discourse, no longer material. New materialism sees this theoretical flaw, pointing out that the body, while influenced by the system of cultural meaning, cannot be reduced to text and discourse.
The neo-materialist view of the body shifted the focus of research from the cultural representation of the body (e.g., images of the body) to the physical experience of the body (e.g., the sensations of the body). However, in today's image-dominated media age, the visual construction of the body is still sought after, ignoring the physical existence of the body – in fact, we can only feel our body in the passage of space. As Mike Featherstone put it, the concept of a "body image" is purely a spiritual construct, and the resulting self-shaping is fraught with problems, reducing the individual to non-embodied consciousness and treating the body as an entity independent of man. This process recognizes and evaluates the body as an external object, which is far from the physical experience we are accustomed to, after all, the body is our inseparable physical entity:
The reflexive body is our observation deck and is also viewed and evaluated by others. This argument ignores the way the body inhabits and survives in everyday life, in fact, our bodies are not always under the gaze of consumer culture... Most people live in a non-cognitive world, where the body is not reduced to a body image, nor an individual unit, or the surface of a symbolic society. （Featherstone, 2010: 207-208）
Therefore, Featherstone believes that we should pay more attention to the way the body moves in space than the visual reproduction of the body. The body behaves in a powerful way that communicates above the appearance of the body.
Plastic Surgery & Tattoos:
Fashion from merlot-Ponty's perspective
In recent years, the materialist shift in fashion theory has been particularly pronounced. Merleau-Ponty's view of the embodied nature of existence was accepted by a large number of theorists, who applied Merleau-Ponty's insights to their respective research, analyzing clothing from the physical level. In their view, the decoration of the body is not only a visual phenomenon, but also a somatosensory experience. special
The use of the form of clothing not only creates a certain "appearance", but also a way of existing in the world. It goes beyond vision. In this sense, clothing becomes an extension of the body. It blends into our physical schema and reconciles our practical interactions with the world.
Among them, Iris Marion Young uses the phenomenological theory of Merlot-Ponty to analyze the life experience of women's clothing, trying to find that the sexual nature of our physical experience makes the subject immersed in the continuation of the flow of objects, and it does not pay attention to the identification, comparison and determination of the relationship between things. The two sides of the contact touch each other, blurring the boundaries between the self and the other. Contact includes not only the skin's perception of the fabric, but also the "guide for all senses". Clothing is often appealing not only because of its appearance, but also because of its fabric and tailoring, such as the warmth and comfort of a wool jacket, or whether the skirt fits well when people walk.
French philosopher Merlot-Ponty
Along this path, Yang points out in his Breasted Experience that the objectification and evaluation of women's breasts by idealized media images is not enough to explain women's experiences of their own breasts. Ultimately, although the boob is universally fetishized in our culture, women cannot consider it an objective presence outside of their own body, because the boob is always part of the physical presence they experience. In addition, Yang's "The Woman Who Puts On The Dress Again" analyzes this embodied experience through touch rather than vision. Because "from the perspective of the female subject, for their breasts, the most important thing is the body feel of the clothing, not the appearance." Therefore, in her opinion, the corset set a barrier for contact, and its essence is to shape the rounded and solid appearance of the chest according to the ideal of male power. Although such a chest looks more "beautiful", a chest that is not restricted by a corset obviously has a sharper touch, is more fluid and malleable, and changes with the position and movement of the body. Only in this way can the chest be regarded as an inseparable part of the female body, rather than an objective existence that is stubborn and difficult to tame in the rules of patriarchal culture.
In fact, plastic surgery also presupposes the materialization of the chest, the purpose of which is to shape the chest in order to achieve the desired "appearance". As Yang said, the emphasis on the shape of the chest is a requirement of patriarchal culture, so when the importance of chest touch to women is ignored ⸺short skirts), they are still much sexier than their male colleagues. As a result, women tend to pay more attention to their clothing than men in the work environment to ensure that there is no possibility of sexual provocation in appearance. For example, when attending an important business meeting, women may wear a jacket to cover their breasts. At the same time, the second constraint has the requirement that women should not show much masculinity, otherwise it will be seen as a blatant challenge to male authority. So when choosing women's overalls, well-tailored short skirts are more popular than pants, and often need to be paired with some other "feminine" elements, including soft silk, scarves, delicate jewelry and high heels.
As mentioned above, gender differences in the body of a dresser can lead to a difference in the clothing they wear. The body is not a neutral surface that can be arbitrarily marked with symbols. It has its own materiality and affects the way the wearer of the costume and those around it experience it. It also clearly shows how our clothing practices are shaped by the temporal and spatial environment in which they live.
Unlike Entwest,000, who focused on the physical experience of clothing, Sweetman turned to the practice of tattooing. He criticized the overemphasis on the symbolic nature of body decoration in youth subculture studies, pointing out the importance of the visceral experience. In his opinion, tattooists are most concerned with the physical process by which they obtain a tattoo, rather than the meaning conveyed by the tattoo. Because if the tattooer only cares about the transmission of specific information, then the tattoo sticker will be more efficient than the real tattoo. This is obviously not within the scope of the study of the information function of tattoos.
In the course of studying tattooists, Sweetman found that for tattooists, the bodily process of obtaining a tattoo is at least as important as the meaning of a tattoo. Many of them believe that the acquisition of tattoos is a cathartic experience. It creates a sense of interbody that connects tattooists to each other (Sweetman, 2001a: 189). Based on Michel Maff esoli's analysis of the "neo-tribes" of contemporary society, Sweetman points out that the maintenance of individual connections increasingly depends on emotions, but in past eras, individual connections have relied on common cognitive goals (Sweetman, 2001b: 70-71). This phenomenon is particularly pronounced in youth subcultures, who often share certain physical actions, such as dancing and riding motorcycles. So for them, tattoos also constitute a body ritual, and people who share this type of experience also develop a sense of intimacy. This practice is not a simple expression of individual associations, but the construction of individual associations themselves.
Research by Young, Entwest and Sweetman shows that the physical aspects of clothing practice are at the heart of our fashion experience. The way in which the self-reproducing is not simply understood as symbolic or aesthetic communication, but should be seen as a whole aspect of our physical existence on earth. Many contemporary fashion and jewelry designers echo this view with their work, such as Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo and Naomi Filmer. They not only pay attention to the creation of new "appearances", but also pay attention to the different behaviors of the body in the space. They are constantly exploring the relationship between clothing and the bodies that inhabit them. These explorations are strikingly consistent with Merlot-Ponty's theory of embodied existence.
Phenomenology in Fashion Design:
Reimagine the relationship between clothing and the body
Issey Miyake and Rei Kawakubo's emphasis on the dynamic experience of clothing stems from a Japanese perception. Its conception of the relationship between clothing and the body is very different from the Western tradition. In Richard Martin's view, the traditional shape of Western clothing is usually formed in careful tailoring, while the traditional Japanese clothing shape depends on the winding of the fabric to the body. Issey Miyake and Rei Kawakubo's designs were clearly influenced by this tradition.
In the latter tradition, the relationship between clothing and the body becomes more fluid and organic, and the constant changes in the form of clothing respond to the various actions of the body. Therefore, Issey Miyake and Rei Kawakubo did not adopt a Western-style design that confined the body to suitable clothing; instead gave the body more room to move. Their designs are not based on hidden and revealed beauty, but on a sense of movement in the body and thus transcend the Western concept of fashion for the visual arts. Its design form is not a static visual reproduction, but a dynamic three-dimensional sculpture, which can be constantly reshaped as the body changes. Martin once described the difference between the two design paths: the delicately tailored garment was replaced by a cascading garment with a concealed tendency, resulting in a new expression of the body and clothing. It challenges, and even subverts, the view of simple pornography and the view of the mechanically visible body. Casual tailoring, as well as a preference for irregularity and restraint, make the costume a physical parody. It sneered slyly at the tradition of finely trimmed clothing.
Issey Miyake's own evaluation echoes this view. In his opinion, all his designs were completed the moment they were put on (Calloway, 1988: 51). In the Japanese concept, it is "fusoku-shugi", that is, there is no infinity outside the words. The incompleteness of Issey Miyake's costumes attracts people to actively participate, and the dressers reshape these costumes in their own way according to their own bodies. As Issey Miyake said, "The clothes I design can become part of someone's body." Maybe I just gave them the tools. People buy clothes from me, and they become tools to stimulate the creativity of the wearer himself." Merleau-Ponty argues that the object cannot be understood without its practical interaction with the subject. Therefore, Issey Miyake's clothing also requires physical stimulation. These garments are often seams-free and take a hollow form, looking like an unformed sack before being worn. But once the body of the wearer inhabits it, different "personalities" arise.
Rei Kawakubo's "Body Meets Clothing — Costume Meets Body" series, 1997. Image source: "Fashion Inspiration"
Most of Issey Miyake's clothing is made of soft and elastic polyester flat fabrics and acrylic fabrics (Holborn, 1995: 30, 36) and many wrinkled fabrics, which give it the ability to deform and make it flexible enough to expand and contract according to body movement.
In the same way, we can also see the interaction between clothing and body in Rei Kawakubo's works. Clothing is activated by the wearer's body and also affects the wearer's bodily behavior. This is particularly evident in his 1997 design Body Meets Dress- Dress Meets Body. The design includes a series of tunics made of elastic fabrics, some with quirky padding. The line between the body and the costume becomes blurred, and the garment is no longer separated from the body, but becomes an extension of the body. Soft padding filled with goose down is highly malleable and can change shape as the body moves, making clothing and the body inseparable from each other. In her designs, the costume is not an object that exists outside the body, but is entangled with the body. Neither side can be separated from the other, and the costume itself is silently fused with the body of the dresser.
Issey Miyake and Rei Kawakubo are most concerned with how clothing and the body interact, as well as the physical experience of dressing. In this day and age, as medical technology advances and more prosthetic devices are incorporated into our body schemas, Kawakubo's coat blurs the boundaries between living and inanimate, exploring new possibilities for embodiment. As Caroline Evans puts it, Rei Kawakubo's padding "outlines a whole new possibility of subjectivity." It emphasizes the external extension of the body through new networks and new exchanges, independent of the body's internal capacity".
Contemporary British jeweller Naomi Fillmer also focuses on exploring the interface between the body and decorative forms, designing jewellery entirely according to the contours of the body. Her work cannot exist on its own, but rather an extension of the wearer's body, challenging the ego to be completely separated from the other. Her 2008 "Breathing Volume" series consists of four pieces that focus on the mouth, chin and neck in body parts. Starting from these body parts, each piece evolves into an organic oval that hints at the volume and path of breathing through the body. As Fillmer himself puts it, the linear forms outlined in these objects explore "the balance between the inside and the outside, the positive and negative spaces, the presence and absence of the body." Even when not worn, the very form of these objects suggests an absent body, limiting a negative space for a certain part of the body. In addition, they describe the connection between the volume of space and the body. Just as architecture values the spatial interaction of the built environment and the body, Filmer's series of designs is intended to explore the relationship between the body and the space in which it finds itself, echoing Merleau-Ponty's view that the body is often already involved in the world. Fillmer's designs enclose an invisible space in areas where women don't normally wear jewelry (chin, back). These jewelry explore new embodiment experiences, stretching the boundaries of the body like Rei Kawakubo's design.
Fillmer's Orchid Neck Piece for Anne Valerie Hash in 2008. Image source: "Fashion Inspiration"
Fashion designers and fashion theorists gradually stopped seeing clothing as a mere visual phenomenon and began to emphasize their physical experience. At this level, Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology values the embodied nature and our entanglement with the world, providing a theoretical tool for the study of somatosensory clothing. It effectively resists the objectification of the body by contemporary culture, and the body is no longer reduced to an external appearance. Although Merleau-Ponty himself does not specifically address the phenomenon of fashion in his work, nor does he deal with the relationship between our embodied experiences and gender, his practical understanding of the world provides us with a solid basis for analyzing clothing and physical experiences. In today's image-conscious culture, where we place special emphasis on the way we see, merlot-Ponty's phenomenology reminds us that the body is not the object being watched, but a living body that contains our movements. From this point of view, to understand clothing cannot be separated from the physical experience of wearing. So clothing is not a symbol, but a second layer of skin that we cannot cut off. When we move in this world, it's not just our body that's moving, it's the body that's dressed. Clothing thus becomes an intrinsic part of our body schema, influencing our manners in space.
Editor| Zhang Ting
Introduction Proofreading | Li Lijun