11 Clothing and etiquette

If people dressed only to protect themselves from the cold, to cover the most piquant parts of the body, clothing could serve until it was torn, and could be of any shape or color. However, the fact that we dress, performs many other functions, which over time increase rather than decrease. Clothing from ancient times, among other things, was a kind of calling card of a person; by clothes it was possible to judge to which social group he belongs or what he earns himself a living. Gentlemen dressed differently than subjects, artisans differently than peasants, single men differently than married men, widows differently than a married woman. Thus, in everything there was an established order.

The functions of clothing have changed significantly since then. “Clothing creates a person” - so we strive to make it what we would like to be. As a rule, we want it to make us, above all, interesting. Clothing remains functional, as a characteristic of what a person is. But today it is no longer a sign of social or professional groups. It reflects, first of all, a person’s belonging to a certain age category, his ability to realize this belonging - the ability to dress according to age, as well as his individuality, ingenuity, originality and originality of vision and experience of reality. So, at least, it should have been, and we, as a rule, want it, but do not always achieve success. And it is here that the notorious stumbling block.

Clothing is an ancient and well-developed form of art and material culture. In its form, color, lines, combination of fabrics, all the richest symbolic heritage of mankind is reflected and, as a flexible, reactive and communicative system, it is distinguished by a high degree of symbolism.

Appointment of clothing may be narrowly functional. This may include the one that serves as protection from climatic conditions and external influences.

The remaining functions are communicative. These include:

· Magical - reflecting human interaction with the “world of spirits”;

· Ritual - associated with the symbols of the rites;

· Ethnic - showing belonging to a particular ethnic group;

· Caste-rank - showing class and rank differences;

· Social - regulating social behavior;

· Historical - acting as part of the “memory of culture”;

· Artistic - expressing aesthetic ideas;

· Game - associated with the desire for self-expression;

· Sexual - reflecting the specifics of the relationship between the sexes;

· Age and sex - indicating age and sex relations;

· Professional - accepting belonging to a specific professional group.

An analysis of the functions of clothing shows that it is associated with all spheres of human life and is the most commonly used part of material culture. It is like a screen on which all aspects of the social and material, technical level of society are projected in a visible and bright form. However, “human” clothing is inherent in more than all other objects of applied art, as it is directly related to the image of a person, his mood, movement, and behavior.

Clothes changed, developed. These changes are in tune with the general development of society, the emergence of new materials, improvements in production.

Historians of culture hold the opinion that fashion was born when elements appeared in clothes, the use of which cannot be explained by necessity or the development of aesthetic taste.

The change of forms in human life is obligatory, as it is obligatory in nature. After all, from what most people get tired? From monotony, from the fact that today repeats what was yesterday. The need for change lies in the very nature of man, in his psyche, in biology. And, probably, fashion is one of the manifestations of this need. With its changes, fashion creates a favorable psychological climate. Fashion is needed.

MODA is a rapidly changing set of rules governing the behavior and actions of people, primarily in the way they dress, as well as in other areas of their activities concerning external manifestations of belonging to certain social, social and age groups and manifestations of their differentiated social activities.

In general, it can be noted that in various life situations the advantage is behind the social dictates of fashion. However, in studies related to the design of clothes, with an analysis of the development of fashion, interdependence between constitution, temperament, character and other parameters of a person is considered. According to these parameters, women are divided into groups according to the principle of supposed style decisions in clothes, attitudes towards fashion and convenience in clothes, emotional expressiveness of facial features and behavioral cultures. There are five such groups:

· Youth type is mobile, lively choleric temperament of a woman, narrow and medium-sized, having an elongated face and neck. This type is most common among the younger and middle age groups. Women of this type prefer sportiness, freedom, simplicity of lines, courage of color solutions. Easily and freely perceive new fashion;

· Elegant type. Here women of sanguine temperament, narrow, medium and broadly composed, of medium and high stature, prevail. It is more common among women of middle and older age groups. Women of elegant type in clothes appreciate the rigor, conciseness of forms and articulation, rationality and functionality. Proportions prefer close to the proportions of the body. The colors are calm. From fashionable clothes accept only that will provide harmony with appearance;

· Business type is inherent in women of phlegmatic and sanguinous temperament. This is a balanced, but somewhat harsh women. Medium and wide. Occur among all age groups. They prefer the appropriateness of clothing, versatility, classic or sportiness and moderation in color. Fashion responds poorly;

· The feminine type is most common among women of melancholic and phlegmatic temperaments, of different statuses. Women of this group prefer decorative forms and details, elegant finishes, asymmetry, lightness of material, color. New fashion is taken easily;

· The gerontotype is elderly women, characterized by signs due to age. The clothes appreciate the simplicity of the shapes of the material, functionality, convenience. Almost do not react to fashion.

It should be noted that the listed groups do not cover the whole variety of types of female images, some of their varieties are possible, which can be considered mixed.

Consider how a person meets fashion.

The statement “I have absolutely nothing to wear” means: from what is hanging in the closet, nothing of the kind is worn, but only what is not in it. The very wording “wearing this and that” foreshadows our life difficulties. After all, the words “this is no longer being worn” does not mean at all that what they are said of is no longer really worn, it is precisely that they are worn, so that, as they say, every second person dresses. And no one wants to go dressed like “out of the incubator”, feel terribly old-fashioned and remain in a bad mood because of it. Therefore, any woman or man dreams of wearing such things that others do not yet have. The present becomes thus the past, the future becomes the present; that which is “worn” is not yet worn, but will be worn. And what is this, strictly speaking, such, since it does not even exist yet? The answer to this question is given by fashion magazines and especially “first signs”, which, however, do not make the weather, but dictate fashion. Such a “swallow” are usually famous movie stars and entertainers. It also happens that someone accidentally hears that this season will be, for example, wearing a silhouette, widening down, purple and all its shades and that the most popular material will be, say, georgette. And you're done! Fashion magazines give predictions, as if they were talking about an anticyclone approaching from Greenland, but in reality they are inventing fashion.

Although fashion always seems quite tolerant and allows for different lines, length, colors and their combinations (first of all, it concerns youth fashion - after all, young people have far less opportunities than older ones, and the desire to be dressed in the latest fashion is especially great), one thing is clear : what was still being worn out of fashion. Therefore, if we want to be at the level (and who does not want it?), If it is important for us that others notice us (which is certainly important for everyone), if we want to emphasize that we represent something ( we want more than anything), and if we want to like it (which, of course, everyone wants), we must keep up with fashion.

So, we, having survived until the 20th century, allow us to enslave ourselves, submitting to anonymous dictation of fashion. Thanks to her, clothes that could serve for many years become obsolete. Fashion makes it necessary to regularly send so many textiles to utilities that factories barely have time to recycle it. She gives jobs to seamstresses and tailors, makes textile and garment factories buy new machines, retool production lines, and thoroughly get everyone into the wallet. True, we must admit that fashion conducts only stupid, and only advises and helps the smart, but this does not change the essence of the matter.

Why is this so? Each person has a certain value. And he checks that value and asserts in practice what he does, what he is capable of, what people need, why he is valued and respected. But to pay attention to your own merits is only difficult, it takes a lot of time and is not always possible, because it depends on many circumstances. Indeed, sometimes, before a person convinces himself and others that he is something of himself, he will spend his whole life. Even with the strongest will, it is difficult to keep yourself waiting for so long, hoping for a happy ending. Among other things, if a person wants to prove to those around him “I”, he must be sure of himself, he must know that if he is not recognized, then at least he is noticed. Therefore, we attract attention to anything - not only by the results of labor, but also by our behavior and not least by the way we dress. It is much easier than to stand out with difficulty, although it is not without problems here.

The most basic problem is that if we want to systematically draw people's attention to something important, we cannot always use the same tools. What repeats ceases to attract attention or, in other words, the amount of information decreases the more, the more often a certain sign repeats.

INFORMATION - usually understood as a message about something. In cybernetics, the concept of information concerns more changes in the state of the recipient. The more authentic, original or unlikely a certain message, the more information it brings, more precisely, it causes. With frequent repetition of the message, the amount of information decreases. Fashion changes serve to keep the level of information high.

The cut, color and material of clothes pay attention to belonging to a certain age group, but they do it all the time in different ways. Otherwise, after a while, no one will even realize that we want to pay attention to something.

"I am young, I feel young and I want to be like that," the skirt, ending high above the knees, states boldly. However, over time, people will get used to it, and, worst of all, mothers and wildest grandmothers start wearing such skirts. What made a fresh impression turns into the ordinary and ceases to be a sign of belonging to the age category. Everything changes abruptly: the skirts are extended to the very ground, and the girls who sweep the streets of them again attract attention with their exclusivity, which consists in their youth.

Men think that all this is done because of them, but in fact a woman needs fashion first of all for herself. A person needs to know that he is not the same as the others, to see his own characteristics, to be aware of his individuality, to be reminded of it realistically and tangibly and to make sure each time that he keeps up with the times, that he is at the height of his position and, God knows that still. Clothing is also designed to be admired by everyone else, but this is in second place. However, this function should not be neglected. How can a person feel if he is considered a gray mouse, not noticed, or even mocked? This is what lies behind the statement “I have absolutely nothing to wear!”

The more difficult it is to solve the problem of clothing for a person, the more he wants to emphasize the uniqueness of his personality with its help. If it were only about belonging to an age category or a certain group, then it would be enough to have a uniform that could be modified from time to time (so that it does not bother). Sometimes this is the case in reality: the streets suddenly fill one or another color or the same style that has become the highlight of the season. When copying and imitation of the same pattern begins, this happens quite inevitably. Monotony is a paradoxical consequence of individual fashion waves. If you do not know how to swim in them, you can drown and be dressed forever in the same as most others, that is, to walk in a kind of uniform.

Not only models from fashion magazines act as fashion samples. Cinema and television make such models the clothes of popular personalities - actors, singers, etc., since their regular appearance on television and movie screens initiates mass imitation. It does not do without comic situations - not everything that is shown on the podium is suitable for everyday life. This especially applies to make-up, as the lighting on the stage requires more contrasting colors and lines that look unnatural and even funny in daylight.

MAKE-UP - cosmetic face design, more precisely, such a decorative design that emphasizes facial features or changes them; it just doesn’t include cosmetic care. Makeup should be as noticeable as possible. Festive, solemn occasions may be an exception, but even then, moderation in the use of cosmetics is appropriate.

The greatest danger of imitation lies in the monotony of the final result. If everything follows the same pattern, but at the same time they want to be original, they will achieve the exact opposite goal: they will merge with the rest of the adherents of this fashion, even if they are peculiar, and who will notice them after that?

Thus, fashion, with the help of which we want to stand out against the background of what has become taken for granted, and therefore everyday, itself leads to this everyday life. Faster of all, it is becoming obsolete and that what should have been shocked at the first moment and seems eccentric is going away. This applies particularly to the anti-mode, that is, to clothing, which defiantly denies not only the dominant taste, but also any aesthetic norms in general.

TASTE - an aesthetic norm, which is more emotional than rational. Taste is like a “look” of feeling, in practice it warns us from non-aesthetic and serves as the basis for finding the aesthetic in the environment in which we live, in our activity, etc. Tasteless, we believe not something that is simply ugly, but rather something that does not meet this goal, which indicates a lack of taste. Therefore, nature, for example, cannot be tasteless, tasteless is, as a rule, what a person does. The peak of bad taste is KICH. Like any aesthetic norm, taste is socially historically determined.

Hair wrapped around thick wires will of course attract the attention of passersby and cause shock, but if this shock repeats several times, it will cease to be interesting, even if one wire is green, the second is black, and the third is red.

SHOCK from an aesthetic point of view - mental shock caused by behavior contrary to generally accepted standards. Usually it is the subject that attracts the attention that does not know how or does not know how to do it otherwise.

One wears an earring in the nose, the other is dressed in sackcloth, the third one shows inscriptions like “University of Texas” or “Take love” on the chest. Such an advertisement on a T-shirt very eloquently indicates that its owner has neither taste nor real fabrication and rely only on the external effect. This effect at the first instant is indeed achieved, but very short, very limited in content and time. Much longer aesthetically functional novelty. Due to this functionality, there is a desire to see it again, especially if it is found in various variants and combinations. Aesthetic functionality gives it ample opportunities for effective impact.It can surprise and interest, cause a feeling of joy and positive experiences, influence the behavior of other people, etc.

But even the most beautiful novelty once ceases to be a novelty, and the sooner, the faster it becomes everyday. And it turns into everyday as it becomes more common. Against this, there is one single effective weapon - originality. But not at any cost, not at the cost of denying fashion and all aesthetic norms, but, on the contrary, originality that takes into account and even improves these norms. And the best model is only the main idea, which everyone must complete by himself, adapt to his features. Fashion should help us in choosing the most suitable clothing - comfortable and aesthetically functional, which emphasizes our strengths and hides shortcomings. But she will not be able to perform this function if we become her slaves.The most beautiful fashion model may lose its meaning due to non-critical copying.

Since clothing should be our calling card, emphasizing the identity of our personality, this identity must be taken into account. To do this, you need to know yourself, not only the size of your body (although it is important), but also your character, temperament, inclinations and tastes, and to adapt clothing to all this.

Similarly, the nature of the activity for which this or that garment is intended must be taken into account. We dress differently at work, at school, at the cinema or on a visit, for a trip out of town, etc. At the same time, we take into account the peculiarities and specifics of classes in these conditions, under which we use our abilities, we satisfy our needs and interests.

So, after we look into the closet, we will look immediately and in the mirror, in which we will see not only how tall or tall we are, what our shape is, slim or full, but also get the most truthful and comprehensive picture of ourselves , about their abilities, capabilities, properties of character and, finally, about physical data and age. Fashion designers always advise us. Their development should inspire us to make our own decisions, which would be based on a real assessment of our features and needs.

But this is not an easy task. She has to solve all her life. Each of us changes with age, and it is most difficult for people to realize these changes on themselves. And it is with respect to himself that he harbors the most illusions. But not only. Когда нам кажется, что у кого-то это получается лучше, чем у нас, мы начинаем приобретать комплекс неполноценности. Жалеем сами себя, смотрим с недоверием на остальных, предполагая, что они все видят, и знают, и смеются над нашими недостатками. Даже если мы не совсем правильно и трезво оцениваем себя, надо стараться по меньшей мере не показывать публично свои слабости. Уже само стремление обратить на себя внимание любой ценой и, главное, одеждой выдает неуверенность. Уверенный же в себе человек никогда не станет привлекать внимание таким способом. Одежда, которая нам не идет, будь она даже “криком” самой последней моды, означает, что мы сами себя неправильно оценили, а не подходящие друг к другу по форме или цвету части одежды свидетельствуют о недостатке вкуса.

Нет на свете такого зеркала, которое показало бы нам сразу все, что нам нужно о себе знать, чтобы стать мудрее. Именно поэтому мы должны изыскивать возможности познания при каждом удобном случае. Существует наука о человеке и работы, популярно излагающие ее суть. Они помогут нам понять многие вещи, и, прежде всего, самого себя. Но при этом может возникнуть такая же опасность, как при чтении популярной медицинской литературы: при ознакомлении с ней мы обнаруживает у себя симптомы если не всех, то хотя бы нескольких самых тяжелых болезней.

From the knowledge of the existence of diseases is still far from the diagnosis, which would reliably establish our qualities and appreciate which of them are our strengths and which of us are disadvantages. True, the advantages and disadvantages are very relative - that in one situation is dignity, in the other - a disadvantage. However, no theoretical knowledge can replace our wisdom and experience, which are necessary for the application of this knowledge. Self-esteem is a comparison, a comparison of oneself with others. In this case, it is all the more due to life experience and experiences, which are the fruit of not one year, not ten years of human life, but the total wisdom of all mankind. And where to take such an experience from a person who has just celebrated his fifteen or twenty years? After all, for its practical development is not enough and a lifetime.

We need experience in order to react sensitively to everything that is vital for us, including the beautiful, beauty. And it is this experience that we can find in art, the mirror of human life. It can also become our mirror if we do not ask him impatient questions in the search for solutions to everyday problems associated with, for example, clothes. Today, no one dresses like Romeo and Juliet, and the love of today's youth is not the same as their love. But we can compare ourselves with them. And then we will see that our love is more superficial, but wiser, feelings are more volatile and, perhaps, smaller, and our life proceeds in more favorable conditions, but at the same time more difficult. With this comparison, we gain experience (not only aesthetic), which we simply need to live wisely, dress reasonably, so that the clothes adorn us.

Each of us wants to feel like a person and to know that he represents something. We regret to throw away old faded ripped jeans or velvet jacket, as part of our life that will never happen again with them. When we use a thing, then, strictly speaking, we consume its use value, but at the same time we make it special for ourselves and thereby give it an aesthetic significance. It is not associated with any special stunning beauty, but with the value that these things have only for us. That is why they are often more important to us than anything else.

Impersonation, among other things, is manifested in the loss of the ability to have a personal, very special relationship to things, as well as to people around and to the world in general. A person suffering from this disease behaves like one of the thousands of flies swarming above the water. Quite unexpectedly, the whole swarm suddenly turns in one direction, and all the flies fly in one direction, as if enchanted. For a person, such behavior is a real misfortune. It is the fashion mechanism that contributes to the formation of herd feelings, leads to the loss of any individuality.

The fashion itself is not the cause of alienation, although it can contribute to it and thus lead to depersonalization. But this is not the fault of fashion; fashion leads to such consequences only in the consumer society. This applies to those people who lead a consumer lifestyle and become dependent on its fetishes.

FETISH - a subject to which the fetishist gives supernatural magical power. Therefore, he honors him, worships as a deity and considers untouchable. The fetish thereby replaces the real values.

Reasonably and reasonably used fashion should serve the person. The main thing - do not follow it slavishly, copying fashionable patterns. Whoever does this makes a mistake. Fashion can be useful as a means against depersonalization. It can occur as a result of not only alienation (against which fashion, needless to say, is powerless), but also too long stereotypical lifestyle, as a result of which a person gradually ceases to realize basic life values. The negative effect of stereotypes can be overcome by giving the surrounding reality an aesthetic character, constant updating and replacing the symbolic tools of aesthetic functions, even if their carriers do not change.

Neither the blind adherence to fashion, nor its unconditional denial is unreasonable. No one person is able to live permanently in an environment that does not contain any new stimuli, without prejudice to his mental health. It is no less difficult to live in the conditions of constant chaotic change. But everyone must himself find the necessary measure of the ratios unchanged and changing in his life. At the same time, the core values ​​on which our life is based should be kept intact. The measure of what to change in life and what to keep depends on age (younger changes are closer and more necessary than older ones), on the profession and individual inclinations of each person. It is impossible to install one for all. Regarding fashion, it should be said that it should inspire us, stimulate us to rational changes, which no longer concern the way of life itself, but its forms.And everyone should decide on these changes by sober reflection, in accordance with his personal qualities and needs.

At the same time, you need to work with your head, because thoughtless copying of fashionable samples will not give anything new, and if it does, it will not be for long. But in order for fashion innovations to inspire creativity, and not just for copying, it is necessary that we know how to not only choose, but what fashion offers. This is where aesthetic education can help.

Consider some of the basic terms found in fashion magazines.

In all the literature related to the design and tailoring of the most well-established term - “costume”. The concept of "costume", as well as the concept of "clothing" should be considered in relation to a person, his figure, body, image. Suits and clothing cover the human body, but their functional characteristics are different.

Clothing serves a person to protect, hide, elevate him. A suit is a certain figurative and artistic system of clothing and footwear parts that characterizes a person’s personality or a social group of people. The concept of "costume" includes clothing, shoes, hair, headdress, gloves, jewelry, makeup. A suit can be considered only in connection with a certain image of a person, a manner of wearing, plasticity and characteristic gestures that distinguishes this concept from the concept of “clothes”. The costume carries a psychological or imaginative characteristic. It can be said that a costume is an outward manifestation of something substantial, well-established.

The concept of “costume” is generally associated with the image or type of a person, his figure, historical events, style or customs, traditions, that is, the deep layers of culture.

In the 20th century, “costume” somewhat lost its original meaning, and now this word is used in the concept of either a historical costume, or theatrical, or an ensemble that most fully and vividly characterizes an individual image.

An ensemble is a costume created according to a single initial plan, where the details are coordinated among themselves and subordinated to the whole and connected to a certain person's image. It has a complex structure consisting of several parts, including shoes, headgear, jewelry. The ensemble is characterized by multi-layeredness, a rigid interconnection system and the necessity of simultaneously wearing all its parts.

Another term you need to know is “wardrobe”. This is a selected set of clothes, shoes, accessories for all necessary occasions of human life.

A good taste will always tell us that, both in clothes and in behavior, and in all our activities, it is impossible to imitate everything that seems beautiful and worthy of attention. Not everyone is suitable for every person, and the individual parts of the whole must always correspond to each other. This does not mean to be the same, but in any case, against the background of the rest, not to produce the impression of disorder. This can happen, for example, with our costume, if each component is beautiful, but all together, they absolutely do not fit together. Too much “beautiful”, decoration gives a lack of taste, just like the ill-conceived combination of heterogeneous pieces of clothing. But here, fashion magazines can help us if we read and view them very carefully, constantly remembering our characteristic features, realistically realizing what we are, what we could and would like to be.

Along with the fact that there is a fashion, there exists what is called a personal style, that which an individual chooses for himself in the mainstream fashion. The range is wide. It can extend from firm confidence in style, when a person at any time dresses in such a way that radiates elegance that others want to imitate. This may be due to an intuitive gift or aesthetic taste brought up from childhood, as there are people who wear the cheapest so that they look elegant. But there are those on which the most fashionable clothes look like old fashion things.

Having considered many of the problems of fashion from various sides and brought out its trial over its fanatical adherents, it should nevertheless be said that there is no person in the world who the fashion would not touch, that everyone is more or less subject to her, not only in the way she dresses, but and in all its behavior.

Fashion does not change anything in what we want to say about ourselves with our behavior, clothes and other things, but it changes the meaning of individual words of the language that we use, as well as the way we express ourselves.