Corporality and Art - Part I - Fashion as a Language.

(Versão em Português: "Corporalidade e Arte - Parte I - A Moda como Linguagem".)

Alexei Gonçalves and Géssica Hellmann

(Editor's Note: This is an English Version of an article originally written in braziliian portuguese. Suggestions, corrections and criticisms are welcome)

Tattoo por Pamela Moore Dionne

This is the first article of a series about art and corporality in which we will approach the multiple uses of body as a support for artistic and individual expression.

It is worth introducing this study mentioning a historically documented case of masculine perplexity in face of one of the oldest forms of corporeal art: facial make-up. In a letter published by the British newspaper "The Spectator" (1711), a husband mentions his intense attraction for his bride's hair and apparent youth just to discover in the morning after that it was all "made of art" (Source: http://www.spnetshop.com.br/vcsabia_hmaquiagem.htm).

The disappointed 18th century British husband has used the correct term to describe the act of making-up: "Art". Art in the body; implying corporality as support for self-expression, identity formation, differentiation, identification with a group, in conclusion, functioning as a message.

We must stress as a starting point that the communication process goes far beyond the terms of the classical scheme - Sender -> Encoding -> Message -> Media -> Decoding -> Receiver -> Feedback.

One of the main concerns of contemporary research in communication resides exactly in the hidden aspects of the language, the ones culturally registered in body motion and corporeal postures, no matter if unconscious or carefully planned. The so-called paralanguages (non-verbal languages) research relevance grows ever faster:

1. Kinetics - the study of gestures, postures and movements;
2. Proxemics - the study of the significance of distances between bodies during the communication process;
3. Voice Tone and Volume;
4. The use body as a media, that is, as a means of transmitting messages: make-up, tattoo, clothings, etc. (O'Neil, 2005)

In this series of articles, we will introduce a few concepts of the last research field in its relations with the forms of corporeal art.

THE SEMYOTICS OF FASHION

Fashion may be viewed as a communication process and of symbolic manifestation. The clothings can be used to create identities, express codes and transmit messages. In different cultures, the meaning and symbology of clothing may vary but, in general, they distinguish social class, represent the individual's social position and roles, and identify the group or subculture to which the individual belongs.

The way a person dresses participates in the constitution of individual identity, providing the creation of a personal style, a self-representation within society as a whole and the social subgroup to which one belongs. An individual can be autonomous in the decision regarding his way of dressing, although he/she can't avoid external influences. (SOUZA, 2003).

During daily life, a human being is bombarded by codes, messages - information - either sonorous, verbal, visual and from garment itself. Fashion and garment create codes that transmit and receive messages, they reign in current society's communication processes. Garment should be understood as an ideological vehicle through which one establishes an individual identity and expectations of social behavior.

According to Monteiro (2003:1), "When a consumer decides to buy something to dress, he/she isn't just buying some pieces of well-sewn cloths. He/she is buying his/her own soul".

"Style" is what makes a person feel unique and tells the world "I am singular". The person who gets dressed with a certain style is expressing much more than a way to dress, is exhibiting his/her way of being, living and acting. Style is much more than fashion or dressmaking, it is a personal, particular choice, a preference, an expression of will, fantasies and humors. Fashion is short-lived, it represents only the fashion industry offer at a certain moment, but style is permanent.

When buying a garment, the consumer is searching differentiation and a message that can be transmitted through it. It represents a trace of individuality, a way to feel unique in relation to the all other people around.

Monteiro (2003) affirms that consumers buy garments for motives beyond their functional utility, including symbolic meanings of taste, lifestyle and identity. During the study of fashion history, one can verify that it behaves as a code in a metalinguistic process. Garment is a language even when isn't used for beauty purposes: if used carelessly, it will transmit a message of carelessness. To use or not a shirt indicates a state of mind, because deciding to stay undressed from the waist up indicates material divestment and moral loneliness. On the other hand, to give away one's own shirt means limitless generosity, a demonstration of a will to share one's intimacy. The material of which a shirt is made of, on its hand, demonstrates the social position of the dresser.

In Aragão's (2003) opinion, garment is a very intimate body extension, functioning as interface and individual's representation, exciting every human senses, especially vision. Fashion may turn into a synonym of provocation, scandal or surprise in its everyday use.

Starting from the principle that each individual is unique, the creation of a personal style is a choice, an election of a few items while disregarding all others among the astonishingly varied offers from fashion industry. Selecting, separating, organizing to the point of deciding what fits with one's preferences, is a deliberate, precise, conscious and coherent choice. Through the garment style choice, one can identify to what "tribe" a person belongs to, including his/her social identity and the way he/she wishes to be treated.

The choice of garment, if understood as a language, participates on the need to see and be seen. It supplies a visual insinuation of the user social class's subculture. It is important to point out that the purchase of an garment piece is actually a complex act, rich in significances.

For Pitombo (2003), fashion, while a symbolic manifestation, refers to the meanings suggested by the garment and the meanings that it reveals is clearly unique to the dresser. In other words, in many situations, the garment, instead of revealing, is used to hide, creating an ego falsification, not aloowing others to see how one really is but the way one would like to be seen, like in the case mentioned at the beginning of this article.

For instance, the same woman can be seen in the morning dressed executive-style on her way to work; while in the evening, dressed in active wear style on the way to a fitness club and, later that night, dressed in a clubber style on her way to a night-club.

These days, fashion is a reflex of the end of fixed identities. From the above example, it is clear that an individual may participate in a variety of groups or "tribes" just from the garment's choice.

Mendonça (2003) states that fashion is the 21st century communication because it defines schedules and styles of the shows which will be transmitted through mass communication vehicles, especially television; it dictates visual styles and creates "fashionable seduction". In other words, it dictates and seduces consumers. In this seductional process through mass communication, dreams and habits are subtly sold to become needs to everyone in a very short time.

Bérgamo (1998) writes that the main characteristic apparel disposition pieces in shopping-malls' showcases is the composition of sets. Depending on the store's marketing promotional strategy, a skirt may or may not be shown along with a belt or a pair of shoes.

Shopping-mall stores sell products that may fit together to form a set, even if not necessarily from the same brand, because their main goal is to sell an ideal, a dream, thus aggregating value to their own brands and products.

In summary, we conclude that fashion represents one of the many forms in which art and corporality mix together to shape a "corporal project" (Pérez, 2006), meaning purposeful alterations of the body's natural shape to transmit messages. In the next articles we will approach other forms of body art.

References:
ARAGÃO, Mariana. Entrevistas. Available at: <http://www.santamoda.com.br/revista/entevista_AnaMerydeCarli.htm>. Access: February 17, 2003.
BERGAMO, Alexandre. O campo da moda. 1998, v.41, p.137-184. Available at: <http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0034-77011998000200005&lng=pt&nrm=iso>. ISSN 0034-7701. Acesso em: 14 maio 2003.>
MENDONÇA, Flávia Vasconcelos de. Moda é a comunicação do século XXI. Available at: <http://www.dominiofeminino.com.br/moda/flavia_moda.htm>. Access: March 10, 2003.
MONTEIRO, Gilson. A metalinguagem das roupas. Available at:
<http://bocc.ubi.pt/pag/monteiro-gilson-roupas.html>. Access:: February 18, 2003.
PITOMBO, Renata. A moda enquanto manifestação simbólica. Available at: <http://www.facom.ufba.br/sentido/moda.html>. Access: May 07, 2003.
SOUZA, Maria Luiza Feitoza de. Grupo de estudos de semiótica da moda. Available at: <http://www.pucsp.br/pos/cos/moda/resenha.htm>.Access: February 28, 2003.