History & Practice of Illustration with Nick Dodds-24.09.2019

Today we looked at the semiotics of fashion, looking at the way in how ones clothes can have meaning behind them e.g. clothes can be used as a disguise, they can depict social status and are also used as a form of personal expression; clothes are a kind of 'second skin' . We also discussed how clothes can be seen as cultural markers for example, in a world where culture is in flux (constantly changing) clothes can be a marker for a certain point in time, and the past is constantly regurgitated. 

We then had an in-depth discussion about jeans (!?) We discussed how jeans reflect different cultural contexts and trends- how the cut and the brand of your jeans can act as powerful symbols e.g. the power of the brand. Brand identity seems to be emphasised more than the industrial process of the jeans; concept over function. 

For this weeks blog task, we were asked to choose an item of clothing from our own wardrobes. 

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​I decided to choose my favourite The Smiths t-shirt (please excuse all the wrinkles!), as I am a massive Smiths fan...I have many more Smiths t-shirts back home in Wales, but most of them are now vacuum-packed due to the lack of space in my bedroom! I got this t-shirt from Amazon, it was a decent price. It's made from 100% cotton and is made by the brand, "Froot of the Loom" They allow you to customize your own clothes, they are usually quite popular with work attire (printing your work's logo on a polo shirt for example) I also remember having one of their polo shirts when I was in my Primary School's choir! They seem pretty reasonably priced to produce therefore I can see why people would choose to use their services to mass-produce t-shirts and so on.

Back to The Smiths t-shirt, it's simple, nothing too flash. I like to wear it to show that I am a fan of their music- I wear it as a form of self-expression in the music I like and I think for many, a band t-shirt is a way of expressing oneself by 'revealing' what type of music they're into. (However in many circumstances band t-shirts such as Pink Floyd and Joy Division are worn purely for the aesthetic, not because the individuals are fans of the bands! Although I will agree that the album covers are rather unusual and are a nice design to have on a t-shirt!!) Regardless of whether or not a t-shirt/top you wear has a band or whatever on it, I think that all clothing/fashion acts as a form of self-expression and is a part of an individuals identity.

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