Fashion as Material Cultur Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Fashion as Material Cultur - Essay Example The essay "Fashion as Material Culture" discovers the different kinds of value about clothes. Clothing fulfils its dualistic value differently. One of its main expressions as an agent and depiction of change is the concept of fashion. Clothing is at times a substantiation of change and at times a beginning of change. It is at times a way of establishing the conditions and nature of political dispute and at times a way of making an agreement. It is at times a tool of attempted dominance and at times an arsenal of opposition and disapproval. In this dualistic value, clothing functions as a communicative tool by which social change is considered, suggested, instigated, implemented, and rejected. Its analysis enables one to see the communicative part of material culture in its most revolutionary creative form. Basically, earlier research on clothing discloses the aspects of culture that can be explored in the clothing’s material culture. Cultural norms, forms, ideals, mechanisms, history, everyday communication, and social distance are all available to the scholar of material culture by means of research on clothing. The theory of the evolution of fashion appears distinct in the 21st century than in previous periods, yet so as to make sense of its current expression it may be useful to have a wide-ranging discussion of the history of the topic. Just like what Appadurai (1986) argued, â€Å"The commodity is not one kind of thing rather than another, but one phase in the life of some things.