FASHION- GEORG SIMMEL
Submitted To
Maam Najam Us Sahar
Submitted By
Sheeza Mahak
I am very thankful
to everyone who all supported me, for I have completed my
project effectively and moreover, on time.
I am equally grateful to my teacher maam Najam us sahar. She gave me moral
support and guided me in different matters regarding the topic. She has been
very kind and patient, whilst suggesting to me the outlines of this project,
and correcting my doubts. I thank her for her overall support.
Last but not the least, I would like to thank my
parents and friends RAKHSHANDA MAJEED who gave me moral support and guided me from time to time in
completing this project. Despite their busy schedules, they gave me different
ideas to help make this project unique.
FASHION- CLOTHING
It’s not so
easy to determine a definition of fashion which we could be applied on all
people. For someone it might be a form of art, a religion, a feast for eyes.
For another it could be a way to express him. You can use fashion in any sense
either use it to hide something about yourself or to show your true self.
French fashion designer Coco
Chanel once said, "Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only.
Fashion is in the sky, in the street; fashion has to do with ideas, the way we
live, what is happening."
It’s true that fashion is not only defined by what we buy but it is how
we think and how we see the world.
As its most fundamental definition (from oxford dictionary) ‘Fashion is a popular style of clothes, hair etc. a particular time or place.’
From the beginning,
clothing has served the basic human needs. People have three basic clothing
needs
1. Physical needs
i.e. protection and safety
2. Psychological Needs
i.e. appearance enhancements
3. Social Needs:
affiliation, status and standard
It
is interesting how early in history ‘fashion’ became a part of human existence.
‘Jewellery’ of heads, shells, bones etc. are extremely common in graves of this
period; a little later, the clay figurines indicate that hair-styles were quite
complicated
In the very start
clothes were used by human to cover up the certain parts of body there was no
concept of fashion in it. The earliest fashion dates back about 20,000 BCE. In
that era clothes were used to fulfill the primarily needs of protection from
harsh environment and weather. They were usually made of fur, animal skin
leaves and grass. As the time passed with the increase influence of
Christianity and increase in trade clothes started coming with embroidery and
laces during the industrial revolution of 1800s, garments began being mass
produced. In the start photography and magazines played important role in
spreading fashion all over the world.
This (Pakistani) region
is the place where a lot of invaders and warriors came. In fact it was a
gateway to enter certain lands. So, the culture and dressing of this region is
largely influenced by different nations that came here time after time including
white Huns, Persians, Arabs, Turks, Mongols and various Eurasian groups.
Pakistan is place which
was part of indo-pak before separation which makes Pakistani and Indian
clothing quite similar. The divisions in clothing are on the basis of religion,
social status and region.
Regional dresses of Pakistan are Sindhi, Balochi, Pathan and Punjabi. Every one
carrying their own specific dresses but the main dress of Pakistanis is shalwar
qameez and dupata for girls and qurtaa shalwar for boys. The
main factor in Pakistani dressing is religion. Islam is the state religion and
it emphasis on covering body completely which is significant in every attire.
Pakistani
dressing and culture is a part of Islamic Culture which is reflected in the
dresses of Pakistani men and women. With the passage of time Pakistanis are
adapting modern dresses and cultural clothing, especially in big cities. The
Shalwar Kameez is the national dress of Pakistan and is worn by men and women
in different areas in different styles, colors and designs of embroidery. Dupatta
is an essential part of Shalwar Kameez and considered a symbol of woman's
respect. Other dresses may include lehnga, sari,anarkali, and sharara. With the
passage of time Pakistani women has started to adapt new styles some of which
are the combination of Pakistani and Western clothing. Like women wear
Embroider Kurta with Jeans and Trousers. Tight half sleeve and without sleeve
shirts with Capri trousers have also being adopted. Most popular in modern dresses
is Pakistani A-Line Frock, long shirts with chori daar. Media, film industry
and internet are the main source of promoting fashion in Pakistan.
The fashion trend is
increasing day by day. Following the upcoming style and clothes without
thinking if they suit them or not is the biggest problem of Pakistani culture. As
globalization is increasing the effect of foreign media is increasing in our
society either in language or clothes the negative side of this is,
globalization is lifting the cultural barriers that were there in Pakistani
culture. In early time period clothes were usually stitched in houses by women
but as time passed women started working in fields and the skills of stitching
faded in normal girls which gave rise to the trend of stitched shirts in the
market
CAUSES OF CHANGE IN FASHION OVER TIME
Increasing
globalization has increased the influence of Western culture in Pakistan,
especially among the affluent, which have easy access to Western products,
television, media, and food. Many Western brand chains have established
themselves in Pakistan, and are found in the major cities.
In my point of view the
biggest cause is ouster of British from the sub continent. British in their
time of rule on indo-pak not only influenced economy, politics and social
trends. They influenced the mind of people so much that their upcoming
generation has not been able to overcome the influence. And people still praise
the British fashion as well as follow it
Man is a social animal and always
wants him to show himself in a society in a presentable way. Naturally man and
woman are fashion loving. They are very conscious about their clothes, manners
and style of speaking. They always want to look like attractive, smart and
fashionable.
Climate affects the
dress of region very much. Dress, way of living, food, profession, play customs
and economic life of a country depends upon its climate and other conditions of
weather. Pakistan is very vast in areas different regions differ a lot in their
climate; due to this difference clothing of Pakistani people have a larger
difference. E.g. people of southern parts wear thick clothe and caps or turban
to save them from storms. Similarly northern areas folks prefer to wear heavy
dresses because of intense cold. In Punjab people wear thick clothes in winter
and thin in summers. Balochi people prefer to wear loose clothes and embroidery
is the thing in which their women are expert. Turban is more or less common in
every region of Pakistan.
Now a day’s women are
equally educated as men and they are more inclined towards utilizing their
knowledge and supporting their family. for this they often have jobs because of
these jobs women are now less involved in house hold skills which were quite
common in our parents. As the trends of working women have increased people are
moving towards purchasing stitched and ready to wear clothes
Main objective of this research is to study the fashion trends in
Pakistan and how George simmel theory is applicable on it. Major assumptions
from simmel theory are taken and applied on the fashion trends of Pakistan.
History of fashion and as well as major causes that changed the fashion of
certain region is also discussed and analyzed
For
this study Secondary data has been used and sources of gathering information
were internet, past fashion magazines, articles, discussion and point of views
of people and books from library. It took one and half weak to complete the
research
The theory which I am
going to apply is of George simmel. Simmel approach could be best understood as
a self conscious attempt and reject the theories of Comte and Spencer. He said
that society consist of web of patterned interactions, and it is responsibility
of sociology field to study the form of interactions which occur in different
cultural settings
Simmel theory based on
human interaction on micro level and the major assumption which I m going to
apply are philosophy of money, social interaction, metropolis, social forms,
objective culture, concept of fashion
Simmel
considered money as a symbol and economic exchange as a form of social
interaction. As societies moved from barter system to money exchange, modern
societies became an objectified measure of values.
Simmel saw money as linked with social phenomena such as exchange, ownership,
greed, extravagance, cynicism, individual freedom, style of life, culture, and
the value of personality.
In Pakistan,
money can buy social interactions and everything. The more money you have more powerful
you will be. If you buy expensive clothes and follow latest trends your
position in society will change automatically and you will be given more
importance. These expensive and branded accessories are actually a gate way to
enter in elite class thus changing your social interaction. Where ever social
interactions are now more formal and based on materialism.
The use of money increases personal freedom for the individual yet at the same
time it is intensifying the possibility of anomie, diminishing the individual’s
attachment to objects, and increasing goal displacement. People are joining groups for either rational
or organic motivations.
George Simmel’s defines it as a system of social cohesion that allows
the individual’s membership of a group to be dialectically reconciled with his
relative spiritual independence. Fashion is governed by motives of imitation
and distinction, which are transmitted vertically
to the community by a particular social circle. They are accompanied by the
‘stimulating, piquant’ charm that fashion conveys through what Simmel describes
as the ‘contrast between its broad, all-pervading dissemination and its rapid,
fundamental evanescence’ and as the ‘right to be unfaithful to it’ For fashion to exist, society must be stratified,
some members must be perceived as inferior or superior - or simply as worthy or
unworthy of being imitated. And as far as the "inferior one" imitates
their direct "superior" and never vice versa,
In our culture fashion
icons are usually film heroes, designers, pop and rock stars actors and
actresses. They all are considered as superior and worthy of being imitated. As
theory explained that there should be two equal forces in society to carry in fashion
i.e. imitation and distinction thus these icons create individualism and
inferior imitate there fashion. We
can say that there exists a small group of persons (designers) which invent and
create certain cultural traits by which they aim only to
distinguish themselves from a large mass of people destined, at most, to
imitate them also Fashion is another type
of distinction class because the high class would have the up to date fashion
and the lower class, which does not have enough money to pay for fashionable
clothing. Fashion is indistinctive in different classes in society and another
way to separate people by classes.
According to Simmel people create some culture but later culture start
to influence life of humans and cultural objects become more and more
interlinked with each other. Thus objective culture comes on top leaving
individual behind. In the case of fashion-clothing, trend of brands ha come and
people following the fashion blindly not knowing if it suits them or not.
Stitching by own self is left far behind.
Money is something that is standard in our daily lives. Our everything
moves around satisfaction of how much we have and what we get. More money you
will have more expressive you will be, by following latest and expensive trends
you express that you have wealth and more relationships come about through
money so ultimately your up to date dressing will act as a symbol of your
wealth and capability of having good relations. It is common in our society not
to have relation with people with poor background or beggar class. We can say
that in metropolis society we humans are corrupt in the level of individual and
human spirit
Social geometry followed in world of fashion is sub-ordination and
super-ordination. Specific group of people start to follow the style of one
celebrity thus making him there super ordinate and by following him they become
sub ordinate. It is not done by the force but choice of people . Pattern of
communication will be “wheel pattern”. Where designer or fashion icon is the
hub and everybody directly follows him. People have relation with one another
also.
By simmel stranger is an individual who is a member of system but is not
strongly attached to that system. In our society strangers first came were
British. They doses not completely conform to the system of society but they
had impact on the culture and dressing of this area. Now a day’s strangers are
usually the traders, ambassadors of other nations, foreign students and people
who came here for job or migrants. These people although are not the part of
our society but stays here. As simmel said the stranger’s
interpersonal relationships with others in the system are characterized by
social distance: “Distance means that he, who is close by, is far, and
strangeness means that he, who also is far, is actually near”
Our culture is
greatly influenced by these strangers i.e. women are now tend to wear jeans
with long shirts. Trend of wearing T-shirts in women is also present but it is
present only in few circles.
Fashion is a vast term including your clothing, makeup, footwear etc.
main focus in this project is on clothing. Three basic needs of clothing for
human were physical, psychological and social needs. In history clothing basic
purpose was to cover himself for protection from harsh environment later
fashion began in 20,000 BCE. Pakistan lies in the region where a lot of
invaders and worriers came so this region has a mixture of many culture. Main
influence is of British people. Fashion changes day by day because human always
needs a change so Pakistani fashion changed from short shirts to long shirts
lehnga, sari. Sharara, Capri trousers and many other. Pakistan clothing is
either cultural based or is under the influence of religion. Globalization,
environmental change, working women and psychological needs are major causes of
fashion changes in Pakistan. Simmel theory has given more emphasis on human
interaction. Major assumption includes philosophy of money, concept of fashion,
social interaction and objective culture. Summing up whole theory, it says that
our clothing has significant effect on our social relations. This is
materialistic world where relations are made on the basis of money. Although
the past women use to make their own clothes but now objective culture as come
with ready to wear branded clothes. In society people follow some celebrity or
fashion icon and thus make wheel pattern. Strangers also affect our culture i.e.
they are not true inhabitant of this culture but came to live here and affect
the dressing of surrounding e.g. trend of jeans and Capri in Pakistan.
Georg Simmel (1903) Die
Grosstädte und das Geistesleben, translated to "The
Metropolis and Modern Life" by Kurt Wolff in: D.
Weinstein ed (1950). The Sociology of Georg Simmel. New York: Free
Press, 1950, p.409-424.
Everett
M. Rogers, Communication Theory: OneFebruary1999 Pages: 58-74Georg Simmel’s
Concept of the Stranger and
Intercultural
http://soc331.wordpress.com/tag/stranger/
