Dress functions as a ind of +syntax,, according to a set of more or less constant rules, depending on whether we are dealing with traditional costume or fashion. A garment, and body co-erings in general, acquire meaning, whether that of a -eritable social significance, codified in costume through time, or a pure exhibition of interconnected signs on the body.
Dress functions as a ind of +syntax,, according to a set of more or less constant rules, depending on whether we are dealing with traditional costume or fashion. A garment, and body co-erings in general, acquire meaning, whether that of a -eritable social significance, codified in costume through time, or a pure exhibition of interconnected signs on the body.
Dress functions as a ind of +syntax,, according to a set of more or less constant rules, depending on whether we are dealing with traditional costume or fashion. A garment, and body co-erings in general, acquire meaning, whether that of a -eritable social significance, codified in costume through time, or a pure exhibition of interconnected signs on the body.
In the Tractatus logico-philosophicus, Wittgenstein proposes a
clothing metaphor for language: Language disguises the thought, so that from the external form of the clothes one cannot infer the form of the thought they clothe, because the external form of the clothes is constructed with quite another object than to let the form of the body be recognied !Wittgenstein, "#$$: %roposition &'(($)' Language, thought and dress are here associated and clothing is explicitly considered as a *ind of bodily disguise, just as language is a disguise for thought' Language and dress are sign systems through which, Wittgenstein seems to be saying, what counts is not so much what is +underneath,, but rather the surface as such, the system or pattern itself which body and thought assume' The form of +clothed thought, would thus be language, just as the garment is the form of the clothed body' Though perhaps not in Wittgenstein,s intentions, in a more widely accepted sense today, the word +language, does not simply refer to a -erbal system, but in-ol-es all those sign systems with which human beings gi-e shape to their relation to the world !see %onio, .alefato, %etrilli "##&: /0)' Li*e language in this sense, dress functions as a *ind of +syntax,, according to a set of more or less constant rules, depending on whether we are dealing with traditional costume or fashion' These rules allow a garment, and body co-erings in general, to acquire meaning, whether that of a -eritable social significance, codified in costume through time, or a pure and simple exhibition of interconnected signs on the body following associati-e criteria established by the fashion system' 1eturning to Wittgenstein,s metaphor and recalling how important the pictorial dimension of language is in the Tractatus 2 that is, its capacity to depict a fact !a +state of things,) through a system of images " 2 we may reflect on how the language of the clothed body shapes the body into a *ind of map' Indeed, a sign-image is such in -irtue of the connection 1 between its -arious elements, each of which ma*es sense on the basis of its position in a gi-en sequence' It is this position which allows a sign to represent something else' 3ne such example concerns a particular form of body co-ering, indeed one of the most ancient and archetypal: tattooing' The structural anthropologist .laude L4-i-5trauss has shown that in many societies not only does tattooing ha-e a special social significance, but it also contains messages with a spiritual purpose !L4-i-5trauss "#/0: $00)' The social and aesthetic significance of tattooing as a sign-image 2 obser-ed by L4-i-5trauss in the 6aori of 7ew 8ealand 2 may be better understood if one considers the effect of +doubling, the face and body, which are decorated as if they had been split in two' 9ccording to L4-i-5trauss the decoration is the face, or rather, it creates it !"#/0: $0#), thereby conferring on the face social identity, human dignity and spiritual significance' The dual representation of the face, as depicted by the 6aori, is indicati-e of a more profound doubling: that of the +dumb, biological indi-idual and the social personage that s:he has the tas* of embodying !L4-i 5trauss "#/0: $0#)' Thus the sign-picture or the sign-tattoo on the face has meaning not in -irtue of the single graphic mar*s, but rather on the basis of the opposition-association set up between the two parts of the face or body, the actual one and the painted or incised one' 9nother example concerns what ;ebdige !"#<#: "($) calls the bricolage of subcultural styles: the composition or arrangement on the body of a collection of apparently incongruous objects, which ta*en as a whole create for the subject who wears them an organied and meaningful system analogous to the world !see .alefato "##=: /2 =, "/2 "=)' The 6od,s starched white collar and blac* tie, for instance, or the %un*,s s*in-piercing safety pin are pieces of a subcultural bricolage emphasiing the sign-role 2 +unnatural, by definition 2 that banal, e-eryday objects assume when collocated in unusual places' The sign--alue of these objects depends on their collocation in a networ* or +web, of meanings' 5o, a sort of body +cartography, is drawn on social territory, where each sign has a precise -alue according to its position' >odily co-erings, clothes and s*in decorations +create, the body, shaping it together with the surrounding world' What we might call the +degree ero, of clothing, the na*ed body, is itself replete with significance, since it is either the result of a significant absence, as >arthes says, $ or a construction permeated with meaning and -alue !the body incised, tattooed, tanned, wrin*led, scarred, exposed beneath transparent garments, etc)' >ut now let,s loo* at what co-ering oneself out of a +sense of modesty, means' 9ccording to 5artre, it indicates the specifically human ability to be 2 (8 a pure subject !5artre "#&?: ?=?), by disguising the objecti-ity of the na*ed body exposed to the gae and exhibiting, instead, our ability to see without being seen' >eing a subject means, in this sense, recogniing that clothes ha-e specific functions and dressing in order to con-ey a specific meaning, including the social meaning attributed to the notion of modesty' 6oreo-er, in the case of costume !including uniform), functions are related to those aspects which ma*e bodily co-erings the sign of a person,s age, social or sexual role, political career, and so on' In an essay not included in The @ashion 5ystem >arthes identifies an axiological function in costume, its ability to produce social -alues that bear witness to the creati-e power of society o-er itself !"##0: <&)' >arthes ma*es an important distinction between costume and dress: while the former is an institutional, essentially social reality, independent of the indi-idual, the latter is a unique reality through which the indi-idual enacts on him:herself the general institution of costume !"##0: ==)' While dress, or attire, can be the object of psychological or morphological research, costume, as >arthes says, is the true object of sociological and historical research !"##0: =<)' 6oreo-er, >arthes maintains that the dichotomy between costume and dress mirrors the 5aussurian articulation of language into langue and parole: the former, a social institution, the latter, an indi-idual act' The similarity with the linguistic sphere basically concerns the social -alue of clothing as a generic group, that is, a combination of costume and dress, corresponding to language in the 5aussurian sense !"##0: ==)' >arthes collocates fashion within the phenomenon of costume, though at times it oscillates between costume and dress, with an effect of mutual contamination: for instance, haute couture may use a traditional costume in the creation of a unique garment, and women,s fashion may di-ersify the uniformity of costume depending on the occasionA whereas men,s fashion tends towards dandyism, that is, it tends to emphasie the manner of wearing a standard outfit !"##0: =02 #)' @or >arthes fashion is much more than an occasion to demonstrate how a system analogous to language functions' 1ather, as Bianfranco 6arrone says, fashion is an emblem of our +progressi-e awareness of the indissoluble bond between sign and society, semiology and sociology, !6arrone "##0: <<)' The history of costume, >arthes says, has a general epistemological -alue, whereby with +history of costume, he means a socio-semiotic reading of the phenomenon of clothing as an articulate language through which it is possible to analyse a culture as system and process, institution and indi-idual act, expressi-e reser-e and significant order !"##0: <?)' The articulation of clothing into costume and dress 2 corresponding to langue and parole 2 is further de-eloped by >arthes !"##0: <?) with refer 3 (8 ence to one of the founders of structural phonology, 7'5' Trubec*oj, who proposes as part of the phenomenon of dress +the indi-idual dimension of a garment, and how dirty or worn-out it is, and as part of the phenomenon of costume +the difference, no matter how slight, between a young girl,s garments and those of a married woman in certain societies, !Trubec*oj "#?# cited by >arthes "##0: 0()' >arthes extends this opposition by considering, as part of the phenomenon of dress, how untidy a garment is, what it lac*s, how it fits and how it is worn !croo*ed buttons, slee-es too long, etc), impro-ised clothing, colour !except in special circumstances, li*e mourning), and the characteristic gestures of the wearer' 9s part of the phenomenon of costume, on the other hand, >arthes proposes ritualied forms, materials and colours, fixed usages and, more generally, all those systems regulated by conformity and compatibility, the outer limits of which are represented by costumes for specific purposes, as in film and theatre !"##0: 0()' In the light of this classification it is interesting to note how fashion 2 which we include in costume 2 has paradoxically appropriated usages and forms which >arthes included in dress' Let,s loo* at these aspects one by one' When a garment is made to measure it is certainly unique, though with the in-ention of standard sies, the body has been squeeed into numerical limits' 9 worn-out garment may ha-e a sentimental -alue for its wearer, but as +second-hand, it becomes a fashion itemA and the same goes for the -ogue for faded or ripped jeans' Cntidiness and dirtiness may be part of the phenomenon of anti- fashion or urban tribal forms' The absence of a garment may be the sign of a collecti-e use made of costume: for instance, feminist bra-burning in the "#=(s, or 5haron 5tone without underpants in >asic Instinct, which becomes a sign of the protagonist,s sexual ambiguity' Dccentricities in how a garment is worn, on the other hand, concern e-eryday fashions: the -ogue for buttoning jac*ets croo*edly, wearing slee-es that are too long, or deliberately creased, unironed clothes, a -ogue recently ta*en up by high fashion' Besture and mo-ement, too, in wearing certain garments, are often indicati-e of socially produced attitudes: for instance, the fashion dictate of narrow s*irts or high heels that impose on women fixed, e-en stereotyped, mo-ements when seated or wal*ing' 9ccording to Lotman !"##?), fashion introduces a dynamic principle into seemingly immobile, e-eryday spheres' Traditional costume tends to maintain such spheres unchanged through time, while fashion tends to transmit signals which are antithetical to the e-eryday: capricious, -oluble, strange, arbitrary, unmoti-ated, these are the terms we normally associate with fashion' 5o fashion becomes part of the image of a topsytur-y world, where a tension is set up between the stability of the 4 (8 e-eryday, on the one hand, and the search for no-elty and extra-agance, on the other' There is thus a structural difference between costume and fashion with regard to time 2 the stability and immutability of costume as opposed to the giddiness of fashion 2 and metaphorical space 2 a normal -ersus a topsy-tur-y world' This difference directly concerns the social function of clothes: costume establishes a close relation between the indi-idual and the community to which s:he belongs, while a fashionable garment has, by definition, a cosmopolitan status, e-en though its style may be inspired by +ethnic, or traditional costume' Let,s ta*e as an example some aspects related to the social significance of colour' >lac*, associated with mourning in the traditional costume of certain societies, has the ritual function !>ogatyrE- "#?<) of associating the nothingness into which the body of the defunct has passed with the meaningless state in which the berea-ed person finds him:herself' In -irtue of its magical function, on the other hand, the use of blac* is forbidden for the garments of new-born babies, who are thereby protected from images associated with night, death and demons' >lac*, therefore, in the context of a traditional, symbolic concept of clothing as costume, is always associated with a specific, yet timeless, function, the significance of which is inscribed in +languages, which, while different, are ne-ertheless morphologically enduring and belong to the uni-ersal phenomenon of myth enacted within a context of social relati-ism !Breimas "#<=)' This concerns both the way in which so-called archaic societies function and the extent to which the functional dimension of a garment persists e-en in mass, industrial sectors of social reproduction !the wedding dress, for instance)' In fashion, which is characteristic of social reproduction in the modern age, especially mass reproduction today, the social significance of colour is dispersed in a multiplicity of languages which, in turn, become social discourses !Breimas "#<=)' @ashion uses blac*, for instance, in -arious contexts and discourses: urban tribal styles, such as %un*s and BothsA intersemiotic strategies between fashion and cinema !the role of blac* in The >lues >rothers or 6en in >lac*)A +designer styles, !the use of blac* in Famamoto, Gersace or Holce I Babbana) !see .alabrese "##$)A bricolage fetishes, and so on' Ta*e the wedding dress as a further example, the ritual function of which is subordinated to the mutability of fashion' The dress itself may be decontextualied, white being replaced by +pro-ocati-e, colours !such as red) and shapes !low-cut bodices, short s*irts, etc)' The objects generated by the discourses of fashion are no longer, therefore, products of a collecti-e expressi-eness 2 myths in the traditional 5 (8 sense 2 but are rather signs of a style, and consumer objects' In other words, they become myths in the contemporary sense' 1ossi- Landi defines society as +the aspect that material assumes on a human le-el, !"#0/: ?$)' 9nd the sign dimension of society has characteried the history itself of cultures and ci-iliations' @or instance, natural languages are transcribed as signs, and the sociolinguistic categories underlying them are too, by nature, signs' We might also adduce the symbolic function of non--erbal sign systems, li*e food and clothing' 5ign systems, in which costume and fashion are included, manifest their functional mechanisms as generators of relations between indi-iduals, de-ices for shaping the world and sources of meaning and -alue' It is in this sense that sign systems may be called communication systems' In the chapter entitled 5chema di riproduione sociale of his boo* 6etodica filosofica e sciena dei segni 1ossiLandi defines communication as social reproduction !"#0/: $<2 &/), that is, as the whole context of the production-exchange-consumption of commodities and messages, all considered signs on the basis of his +homological method,' It is not only the moment of exchange that in-ol-es the communicati-e dimension 2 expressed as techniques of persuasion in ad-ertising, mar*eting strategies, etc 2 but production and consumption as well' This is especially e-ident in our +post-industrial, age' The manifestations of sign production- communication go from the telecommunications industry, information technology and cinema to automation and educational systems' .onsumption as communication includes, moreo-er, the use of telephones, electronic gadgets, computers, tele-isions, satellites, and should be considered in the light of its so-called +fluidity,, that is, its mobile, flexible and hybrid character !see Lee "##?: $/&2 #)' Today production, exchange and consumption are three -irtually simultaneous moments: 1ossi-Landi alludes to their structural similarity, which establishes a set of resemblances within social production itself, particularly at a le-el of +global production,' ? This regards the fact that a gi-en artefact, whether -erbal or non--erbal, ma*es explicit, +recounts, as it were, the whole production process 2 language, culture, the human race e-en 2 that has generated it' 6any contemporary signs-commodities 2 jeans, .oca-.ola, credit cards 2 ma*e explicit the globalied social reproduction of which they are the result and within which they are exchanged and consumed' The particular socio-semiotic characteristic of such signscommodities is that of containing within themsel-es a communicati-e -alue, of being communication tout court, whether they are produced, exchanged or consumed' The proximity of signs and commodities & means that the latter,s -alue is considered, abo-e all, in terms of social relations' Today, in an age of +total, 6 (8 communication, these relations imply that the -alue of an object consists not so much in its function 2 its usefulness 2 or in what it is worth, in the traditional sense, as in its communicati-e -alue, measurable in terms of speed and inno-ation' The concept of inno-ation is much less arbitrary than it might at first seem' It concerns the uni-ersal sign quality of social reproduction, as se-eral recent research projects ha-e demonstrated' / 9 creati-e process, a ser-ice, a de-elopment programme, an object can all be called inno-ati-e, especially from a communicati-e perspecti-e, if inno-ation is socially represented as such, if it is founded on social discourses that circulate and are reproduced both within restricted groups !a company, a public administration, a go-ernment) and extended, mass communities' In this sense, the +authenticity, of the social discourse that sustains inno-ation is crucial' The discourse must circulate +as if, it were trueA it must respond to hidden meanings and expectations, construct life styles and interact with other discourses' Fet, paradoxically, we may also spea* of the +destructi-e semiotic character, = of inno-ation: the fact that a consumer item, or indeed a production means, has become obsolete concerns depletion as a sign, not as a +body,' < Hiscarding the old, and substituting it with the latest no-elty, happens in e-ery phase of social reproduction, in -irtue of communication techniques that exploit +total, signs: modularity, speed, design, -irtuality, customiation and so on' Dndless examples could be ta*en from contemporary life: the philosophy underpinning the idea of software, the role of design in the car, hi-fi and electrical appliance industries, the concepts of time, space and the body in the use of mobile phones, and Web consumerism are just some examples' .ontemporary fashion acts as a paradigm in sign systemsA it is, by definition, concerned with inno-ation, as demonstrated by 5immel !"0#/), who was one of the first to analyse the dialectic between inno-ation and imitation' The fashion system contains a mediation 0 between taste and recei-ed meaning, filtered through a special relation between sign, discourse and the sensible world' # In particular, fashion oscillates between an orientation towards the new and the immediate communicability of this +new, as something which is socially appro-ed and has the -alidity of an aesthetic absolute' 9s Lotman !"##?) says, fashion is collocated in the sphere of the unpredictableA what we might also call the sphere of imperfection, "( a concept that ma*es explicit the way in which fashion manages to present itself both as an unexpected interruption of recei-ed meaning and its perennial reconstruction' What I ha-e called +mass fashion, !.alefato, "##=) is a complex 7 (8 system of images, words, objects and multilayered social discourses, all using a plurality of expressi-e forms: haute couture experiments in style, popular urban culture, e-eryday wear, and the clothing imagery that populates the intersection between fashion and cinema, fashion and music, fashion and design' The extent to which these discourses are percei-ed and rewor*ed within the social sphere influences the relation between fashion and the sensible world, while the problem of +sensing, and representing the world through dress, fashion and style becomes increasingly urgent' This raises the interesting theoretical question of whether a sign system !in this case, fashion) models "" the world as a continuum, an amorphous mass, +;amlet,s cloud,, or the world as a place in which the sensible is already manifest !Breimas "#<()' These two theoretical approaches ha-e traditionally been considered antithetical 2 for instance, in the field of the cogniti-e sciences 2 whereas they are actually parallel, one implying the other, if seen from the perspecti-e of a social significance lin*ed to taste and the senses' If there is a sense +of the world, in fashion today, this can only consist in +gi-ing the word, to a world which is sentient but mute with regard to the unexpected, the unheard, the non-stereotypical' 9 world in which social reproduction is also essentially +sign alienation,A "$ that is, the stereotypical repetition of types of beha-iour and images, filters so encrusted with sense and the senses that signs, especially -isual signs, become imperati-es' @ashion, more especially its -isual component, is communicated as the new, the unexpected, the unpredictableA but it is also, paradoxically, communicated through what >arthes calls the +linguistic theft, of contemporary mythology' 5o, to what extent is the discourse of fashion, especially its -isual dimension, reproduced in the form of sign alienation, or as Breimas !"##/) would say, as a simulacrum of existenceJ To what extent do we percei-e the clothed body, its form, its beauty, through the already- seen, the already-felt, through codified, obsolete roles, such as those connected with male and female stereotypesJ .on-ersely, to what extent do the images and !not just -isual) complexities of the fashion system transform, or disrupt, the existing orderJ To what extent do they display continual excess and turn aesthetics into aesthesis and social practiceJ 7otes "' Wittgenstein "#$$: %roposition ?: KThe logical picture of the facts is the thought'L $' @or instance, not wearing a tieA see >arthes 5critti !Ital trans "##0: 0$)' ?' 5ee the chapter entitled 3mologia fra produione linguistica e produione materiale in 1ossi-Landi, "#0/, especially the author,s 8 (8 classification of the tenth and final le-el of what he calls Kthe production M of utensils and statementsL' &' 1oss-Landi proposed this as early as the "#=(s' /' The Duropean .ommission,s Breen %aper on Inno-ation !"##/) is a good example' =' %araphrasing Walter >enjamin in Il carattere distrutti-o !Ital trans "##/)' <' 3n the distinction between sign and body see 1ossi-Landi "#0/: "?<2 == et passim and .alefato "##<b: "$2 "?' 0' @or socio-semiotics this mediation is typical of fashion' #' 7early half a century after the publication of The @ashion 5ystem it is now clear that for >arthes fashion was not simply writing about clothes, but as Bianfranco 6arrone says Ka type of discourse in which clothing practices, aesthetic representations and specialised utterances were combined in a complex form of lifeL !6arrone "##0)' "(' %araphrasing Breimas' ""' 9s language or bricolage' "$' %araphrasing 1ossi-Landi,s Klinguistic alienationL' $ Hress and 5ocial Identity In "#?< the 1ussian semiotician %Etr >ogatyrE-, using a functionalist scheme, analysed the fol* costume of 6onro-ia, in which he identified a series of functions: practical, aesthetic, magical and ritual' 9ccording to >ogatyrE-, e-en the smallest detail allows us to recognie the function to which a garment corresponds' @or example, white for mourning dress alludes to a ritual functionA red stripes on young girls, s*irts, to a social functionA red for young children,s clothes is used to ward off e-il spells and reflects a magical function' D-ery colour is related to the age and thus the social status of the indi-idual in the community' This functionalist analysis foregrounds the symbolic significance of clothes: a garment is a sign, and wearing it fulfils specific functions that can coexist, or o-erlap, in the same item' When the dominant function is particularly strong, it neutralies the others: for instance, the aesthetic o-errides the practical function when the body is subjected to deformations or lacerations' >ogatyrE- 9 (8 stresses a sort of closure in the way in which each function establishes the social significance of a garment, and he defines fol* costume in general as a signifying system' 7e-ertheless, his analysis allows for an excess, so to spea*: residual meanings expressed, abo-e all, in the status of that most particular of functions, the aesthetic function' Nust as what Na*obson !"#=?) calls the +phatic function, in spo*en language is there simply to maintain a minimum le-el of communication or contact between spea*ers !humanly more important than, for example, defining social status), the aesthetic function in the non--erbal language of fol* costume indicates that signs are merely +there, in clothes' Thus an +unmoti-ated, relation is set up between body and garment, a +something more, that exceeds functional equi-alence' D-en the signs that indicate functions other than the aesthetic !the colour or width of the stripes on the young girls, s*irts, for example) and sanction the social importance of costume were originally based on aesthetic details: fabric, colour, shape, sie, position !-ertical, horiontal) and so on' >ogatyrE- found a close analogy between fol* costume and mother tongue, both of which he defines as systems ha-ing +the function of a structure of functions, !"#?<: "&()' We gi-e emotional prominence to our mother tongue and national costume since they are nearest to us, writes >ogatyrE-' They create a concept of community for which we can use the possessi-e pronoun +our,: saying +our language,, +our culture,, +our costume, gi-es an emotional colouring to these phenomena !"#?<: "&$), due to the long and intimate coexistence established between them and the community' In this sense, fol* costume, which is subjected to community censure, is the opposite of fashion: a garment subjected to rapidly changing tastes does not ha-e time to bond permanently either with the collecti-e social +body, or any indi-idual body !"#?<: "&")' %opular dress is part of an almost immutable community tradition, whereas fashionable dress is cosmopolitan' 7e-ertheless, fashion has often referred explicitly to the social imagery of a specific group or community, through the use of different +texts,' >ogatyrE- maintains that a community in-ests fol* costume with an emotional -alue' 9nd this ma*es sense e-en today if we accept that fashion itself is a form of popular culture: it acti-ates and draws on that complex area of social imagery in which fol*lore and images stratified in the collecti-e memory coexistA in other words, texts in which the semiotic material is made up of different languages' 9 good example is the role played by 5outhern Italy in the construction of fashion imagery' Holce I Babbana, Gersace and many other Italian designers ha-e recently interpreted this role by alluding in their collections to the part played by the 5outh in shaping Italian cultural awareness, to which, since the end of the 5econd World War, not only literature and the fine arts, but also the mass media, 10 (8 including cinema and fashion, ha-e all contributed' The male -est, 9l %acino style pin-striped suits, close-fitting white shirts, beachwear based on a La Holce Gita ideal of male beauty are all aesthetic ideals coming from the Italian deep south' Ideals of female beauty and fashion, too: the dar* 6editerranean type epitomied by 5ophia Loren and 9nna 6agnani, cloned today in -arious guises, wearing tight-fitting blac* bodices and long, full s*irts, perhaps with white gym shoes and a headscarf, thic* eyebrows, a full hour-glass figure, a trace of down on the upper lip' We,re reminded of 5tefania 5andrelli in 5edotta e abbandonata, together with all the women, whether real or imagined, who peopled the sun-drenched streets of 5outhern Italian towns forty years ago' The resonance of such imagery, not just on the haute couture catwal* or in the designer,s atelier, but also in our e-eryday choices, is certainly proof of how a community !in this case a nation) +imagines itself, through a series of small, yet significant bonds and not just through economic or commercial pacts' While the latter type of pact often leads to a selfish closure within the notion of +identity,, the bonds constructed by social imagery are open, +contaminated,, and tend not to be di-isi-e' 9nna 6agnani,s peasant gear mixes with 5il-ana 6angano,s chic an*le soc*s, " while the plaits worn by 5outhern Italian woman to tame their abundance of thic*, curly hair mix with the traditional thin plaits of 9frican women li-ing in Durope, now in -ogue amongst western teenagers' There is an ancient legend in Iceland that tells how the terrible .hristmas .at $ will come and get you if you don,t wear a new item of clothing at .hristmas' This monster attac*s the poorest people, those who ha-en,t been able to find e-en the smallest of new objects to wear' @or this reason it is customary for women to spin different coloured yarns to ma*e a new garment, or just a new pair of soc*s, for their children at .hristmas in order to protect them from the monster' The legend is also an explicit in-itation to the rich to gi-e at least one new item of clothing to the poor, who would otherwise suffer a terrible fate' 9s with all legends it is difficult to *now which came first, the tale or the custom' Hoes the desire to wear something new at .hristmas spring from this legendJ 3r is the legend itself merely a culturally codified reflection of those rites of rebirth associated with the ancient pagan significance of this festi-alJ .lothes are our second s*in, and what better meaning to gi-e them on this occasion than that of a -isible renewal and rebirth, made possible for e-eryone, e-en those who can,t afford a new garment' D-en our post- industrial rites of .hristmas consumerism find their raison d,Otre in this e-eryday ritual' 3therwise, how could they ha-e such a strong grip on our imagination, if they were not part of some distant, buried memory of authentic gesturesJ 9nd fashion, too, plays the 11 (8 same game, offering us the chance to dress up for the occasion and, li*e the Icelandic legend, telling us that e-en one small new object is enough to inscribe the festi-ities on our body' @ashion seems to ha-e fully assimilated the modern connotation of .hristmas, gi-en the widespread tendency to reflect, literally, its festi-e symbolism in clothes' .olour, for instance, has always had an important symbolic -alue in the history of costume, especially in .hristmas attire' 5ignificantly the dominant colour on this occasion is red, traditionally associated with pagan rites of fertility, !re)birth and sun-worship' 5hoes, stoc*ings and garments of e-ery description combine their aesthetic function !of adorning the body as a source of light, li*e the sun) with the magical function, often attributed to the colour red in fol* costume, of warding off e-il spirits' This ritual of dressing up for .hristmas extends to the more worldly 7ew Fear,s festi-ities, where, to welcome in the new year, red often appears in that +low, garment, close to the body,s erogenous ones' The habit of wearing red underwear, which has no significant precedence in popular dress prior to the modern age, suggests that clothes still ha-e a magical function today' 1ed 2 the colour of blood, source of life 2 is auspicious for the new year and, at the same time, offers an occasion for an implicit seduction rite, allowing both sexes to re-eal that they are wearing something red underneath' ? This innocent erotic game merges with the surreal power of contemporary fashion, which consists in o-erturning, literally, the order of bodily co-erings, exhibiting what is normally hidden and putting what is underneath on top' The new technological materials, & too, are well suited to our glittering .hristmas attire: clothes made of these materials seem straight out of a 7959 laboratory, or inspired by the magical %G. costume created by @erragamo for the Bood @airy in 9ndy Tennant,s .inderella !6useo 5al-atore @erragamo "##0: 0(2 0")' Barments that create a trompe l,oeil effect similar to a hologram, and clothed bodies as bright as .hristmas treesA the tree as the syl-an double of the human body, bedec*ed with colour and light at .hristmas, as if it were a body totem to propitiate' In 7orthern Durope, on the feast of 5t Lucy,s Hay !"? Hecember), images of the saint show her bearing gifts, dressed in brilliant white with glowing candles on her head' This -isible resplendence in-erts the condition of the saint,s blindness / and so light becomes a metaphor for the magico-religious illumination of body and mind' The +garment of light, !li*e the traje de lu of the toreros) is a classic example of a costume replete with ritual significance, through which magic is reproduced in e-eryday practices' 5o dressing up for .hristmas could be seen not merely as a -ain and futile consumer whim, but 12 (8 rather as a way to embody, literally, certain -alues in order to escape from the terrible .hristmas .at, emblem of the dar* fate awaiting all those who ha-en,t the will, or the means, to renew themsel-es at least once a year by sha*ing off stereotypes' In Woody 9llen,s film Heconstructing ;arry one of ;arry,s wi-es, the psychoanalyst interpreted in his fantasies by the lo-ely Hemi 6oore, has a religious crisis at a certain point in her life' @rom a sensual, liberal and worldly intellectual she becomes a strict 3rthodox New' The change is made stri*ingly -isible on her body: low-cut blouses, minis*irts and long, flowing hair are replaced by drab shawls, long s*irts and neat hairdos' Fet this austere +Newish loo*, that Woody 9llen so irre-erently po*es fun at is not his own in-ention' In "##0 the Israeli 9mos >en 7aeh attempted to launch a corpus of fashion imagery inspired by religious orthodoxy' = The models in his agency lengthened their hems and slee-es, wore hea-y stoc*ings and buttoned-up, high-nec*ed tops, co-ered their heads and tied bac* their hair' 3rthodox Newish culture thus set this rigid control of real and imaginary bodies against the in-asi-e superabundance of images that construct beauty, especially female beauty, either in terms of unrestrained nudity or of clothing paradigms which are, at least apparently, free from restrictions and taboos' The potential mar*et for this new loo* was not just Israel' In both Durope and 9merica post-Hiaspora Nudaism is largely made up of practising News who ha-e presumably welcomed this mediation between religious dogma and the world of consumer ad-ertising, from which their religion theoretically obliges them to *eep their distance' < 3rthodoxy in fashion is not, howe-er, the prerogati-e of Newish culture alone' It finds a parallel in Islamic fundamentalism, which imposes equally se-ere prescriptions on its followers, especially women, concerning how to dress and appear in public' Indeed, in e-ery culture there is a close relation between clothes and religious practices' Hressing means appearing, showing oneself to others, and the more the construction of one,s selfimage depends on the obser-ance of religious dogma, the more it is concerned with how one exposes one,s body to the public gae' Fet there is perhaps an e-en more profound aspect to clothing within a religious context, connected to its symbolic and mythological significance as a means of crossing the boundary between the human and the di-ine' The officiator of a cult who dons a religious -estment is at this boundary, and it is his:her clothed body that sanctions such a spatial-social collocation' 9ncient initiation rites in many primiti-e cultures include a modification or transformation of the body through clothing, painting, feathering or tattooing' The modern western -iew that 13 (8 integralist practices impose or inflict rigid dress codes on the body runs the ris* of presumption in its claim to represent true freedom of dress' 0 3ur judgement of the ancient .hinese practice of foot- binding, for example, or the use of the -eil in Islam, or any other traditional form of co-ering the body in +clothes of containment,, often does not ta*e into account e-en the more recent history of costume in which forms of secular fundamentalism ha-e expressed themsel-es through dress' In 7ai Bermany, for example, Boebbels issued the order !in "#&") that all News wear a yellow star in order to distinguish them from the +9ryans,, while from a different point of -iew, the ci-ilian uniform in 6aoist .hina was an integralist sign, ideologically moti-ated by the necessity of creating social equality, e-en in terms of physical appearance' 9nd today in that most eastern of western countries, Napan, wearing a uniform is a way of disciplining mind and body, especially in the younger generations, whose school uniforms are strictly regulated by age and sex' D-en subculture styles that oblige members of urban tribes to follow precise dress codes, otherwise they run the ris* of being outcast, are a secular rewor*ing, in an urban consumer context, of ancient religious and social rituals of dress' 5o in any discourse on clothing it is difficult to draw the line between an authentic freedom of dress and the rules and regulations !starting with fashion) that function as a *ind of clothing syntax similar to that which go-erns language' In the modern age, whene-er a political, social or religious 4lite has attempted to regulate or control the syntax of either language or clothing they ha-e done so as part of a totalitarian regime !whether actual or planned)' %ersecuted groups ha-e often been objects of manipulation and control, li*e the News in 7ai Bermany, or women, whose presumed natural modesty is central to the loo* created by >en 7aeh' @ashion and censorship ha-e always been in conflictA the -olatile, experimental nature of fashion often triggers off a hostile reaction from moralists against a new length, a new loo*, a new style, etc' Fet in the end the per-erse mechanism of how fashions spread actually produces the opposite effect: a condemnation, not of the new, but of the old, whereby what is outof-fashion becomes the butt of social censure' The relation between fashion and censure becomes e-en more complex when the former is circulated through the mass media: ad-ertising and photography do not simply transcribe clothing signs into a propagandist and iconic language, but reinterpret, reformulate and exacerbate these signs, thereby creating a special genre of translation between different sign systems !inter-semiotic translation) and different text types !intertextual translation)' The 14 (8 following are just some examples' In the autumn of "##/ .al-in Plein launched an ad-ertising campaign for a new collection of jeans, but then withdrew it almost immediately under attac* from pressure groups li*e the 9merican @amily 9ssociation' 9ccording to his critics, the 7ew For* designer had committed an outrage that -erged on an incitement to paedophilia: the new jeans were wore unbuttoned by a group of young teenagers who, at the same time, conspicuously showed off the designer,s new collection of lingerie underneath' Plein commented to the 7ew For* Times, when he announced the withdrawal of his campaign, that the ad was meant to con-ey that young people today were strong and independent- minded' D-idently this was not the interpretation gi-en to the publicity message by family associations, sociologists and teachers, who clearly had ne-er seen the multitudes of teenagers hanging out at school, on the street or in clubs dressed exactly li*e the youngsters in the .al-in Plein ad-ertisement, well before it e-en came out' %erhaps not all with designer-label jeans and lingerie but free, ne-ertheless, to show off a pierced na-el or simply to follow one of those street fashions that are transmitted li*e a sort of smo*e-signal' The designer had done nothing more than pic* up this smo*e signal, using 5te-en 6eisel,s photographs, with their spare yet subtly erotic imagery' # The scandal caused by the Plein- 6eisel ad-ertisement had the all9merican fla-our of a 6anichean and superficial moralism, but it is, ne-ertheless, a good example of the tense relation that has always existed between fashion and censorship' D-en more notorious, perhaps, is the Italian duo >enetton-Toscani, whose images of a terminal 9IH5 patient, a nun *issing a priest, and a blac* mother breast-feeding a white baby are just some examples of images which are regularly the target of moral censure and heated contro-ersy' The accused, in this case, isn,t a garment !>enetton-label items don,t appear in the photos) but the metapublicity message, the image-signs that express something in themsel-es, apart from the implicit +buy this label, message' The same thing happens with .al-in Plein, though in a less sophisticated way: here we actually see the jeans, but the metapublicity message appeals to styles and tastes that are already widespreadA in other words, it communicates, not through ostentation, but through allusion and complicity' @ashion shows are often the occasion for a chorus of censure against a recurrent style of women,s clothes that alludes, deliberately and unequi-ocally, to pornography and prostitution, and so is seen as a harbinger of rampant licentiousness, not to mention being considered in sheer bad taste' "( Fet the -ery next season we may witness a trend in the opposite direction: a loo* inspired by propriety and restraint' 15 (8 .learly, here too we are dealing with a fashion metadiscourse: the desire to pro-o*e a reaction in order to set up a self-referential discourse, by alluding to tastes and taboos already present in social imagery' >y contrast, the censorship campaign against the minis*irt in the "#=(s had quite different implications: here conser-ati-es and moralists were criticiing, not simulacra, but real li-e legs that had in-aded the world of the public gae' 9nd the battle against this censorship had profound ethical implications, which coincided with a concerted affirmation of female freedom and narcissism in e-eryday life, not just in the photographer,s studio or on the catwal*' This time fashion had something truly liberating to say' Indeed, the newly acquired sense of freedom inspired, in this case, by the minis*irt has often been associated with re-olutionary changes in female dress !more so than in men,s fashion)' The last century has seen petticoats and corsets disappear, s*irts get shorter, nec*lines plunge, colours get brighter and the ad-ent of women,s trousers' Today the conflict between fashion and censure is abo-e all a matter of style, that is, of the forms in which fashion manifests itself' 9lready in the "#0(s %un* had implicitly grasped this change of emphasis' %un* style was de-iant in the sense of putting the wrong thing in the wrong place: a safety pin in the nose, blue or green hair, or an obscene slogan on a T-shirt' +Who lo-es me follows me,, a teenage bac*side in Italian +Nesus, jeans could still say in the "#<(s' "" @ollow, that is, a fashion, a bac*side, Nesus, or simply an imageJ The irony and ambiguity of the message created a scandal, but the image made history than*s to its grace and intelligence' Today we ha-e few images to followA it,s rather images that follow us, and it is for this reason that censorship is no longer imaginati-ely or morally potent, and con-eniently espouses the most bigoted forms of political correctness' In the winter of "##?2 #& @rench haute couture found itself in an embarrassing position with regard to the Islamic world' The Indonesian .ouncil of Clema "$ banned .hanel after designer Parl Lagerfeld used Poranic -erses on the bodice of three dresses worn at the %aris fashion show by .laudia 5chiffer' The @rench fashion house and Parl Lagerfeld in person immediately sent the .ouncil an official apology, a necessary mo-e since .hanel was quite interested in tapping the rich 9rab mar*et, which might well ha-e withdrawn its custom after an incident of this *ind' 6ar*et forces in this case turned out to be more important than artistic mannerisms' The faux pas was so clamorous that .hanel e-en had the garments in question destroyed, withdrew all photographic negati-es of them and as*ed the photographers who had been at the fashion show to do the same' "? This was an exemplary incident, in which mar*et forces, fashion and mutual respect between cultures all merged' 16 (8 @or Islamic integralists Lagerfeld had ob-iously committed a sacrilege in mixing the profanity of the female body and the -ulgar commercial object with the sacredness of the word of Bod' 9nd yet combining clothes and writing is a deep-rooted practice in the aesthetics of fashion' In the West, if we were to see a T-shirt with +Thou shalt ha-e none other gods before me, written on it, we would simply thin* it was either a bit *itsch or a bit sanctimonious, whereas, in Islam, putting the words of the Poran on the bodice of a dress is considered no less than a wanton act of profanation' Newish tradition, on the other hand, has a law which sanctions dressing in scripture' Teffilin, strips of parchment that de-out News wrap round their heads, cite passages from the 3ld Testament, and this ritual reflects a specific dogma in Dxodus and Heuteronomy !Bandelman "##$)' Fet thin* what an outcry there would be amongst the Newish community if they were to see a phylactery inscribed with sacred ;ebrew -erses paraded on the head of a top modelQ 5o was the Clema,s condemnation simply an excess of fundamentalism, a *ind of rema*e, in the history of fashion, of the censure against 5alman 1ushdie,s 5atanic GersesJ The issue is a complex one' Is it right to offend other traditions in the name of aesthetic and economic freedomJ 9nd -ice -ersa, could we not argue that .laudia 5chiffer,s bodice has the same communicati-e -alue today that a mar-el li*e the Taj 6ahal had in the pastJ In the summer of "##& the Italian @oreign 3ffice refused to issue a diplomatic passport to a newly elected Duro-6% because it was thought that the photograph on it didn,t correspond to the actual person' 9n incredible decision, since what made the photo an inadequate representation of the politician was the fact that he wasn,t wearing a tieQ The ci-il ser-ants wor*ing in the diplomatic passports office maintained that the absence of a tie was sufficient to call the 6%,s personal identity into question' The tie thus assumed the role of a distincti-e feature on the body, with the same status as a beard, hair colour, age, weight, glasses or plastic surgery' The affair concluded happily, than*s to a bit of mental elasticity on the part of the o-er-ealous ci-il ser-ants, yet it is indicati-e of the fact that clothes now define not only personal, but also political identity' We ha-e all chanced to meet, at the seaside for example, someone we normally see only at wor*, and ha-en,t recognied them immediately, since they were dressed !or undressed) differently' The same might happen with a soldier, policeman or nurse, whom we are used to seeing in uniform, and so we don,t recognie them in +plain clothes,' In the same way, the tie seems to ha-e become part of a politician,s uniform, without which he cannot be properly identified and, moreo-er, he may 17 (8 e-en be barred access to go-ernment institutions' Today the image of public men and women is of paramount importanceA a direct and inescapable relation has been set up between two languages 2 the language of dress and the language of politics' 9nd this is reinforced by the fact that the language of politics is now primarily the language of tele-ision, where e-en before hearing what a politician has to say, we see his:her image, his:her clothed body, on the screen' Image-ma*ers, who de-ote themsel-es to the pri-ate loo* of public figures, are e-erywhere, not just in the C59, where a politician,s image, both public and pri-ate, has been in the limelight for decades' 9 passage in Nohn Brisham,s spy no-el The %elican >rief !"##$) well illustrates this situation' The ad-isor of a fictional Cnited 5tates president urges him to wear a cardigan when he appears on tele-ision to comment on the murder of two members of the 5upreme .ourt' The aim is to simulate a reassuring grandfatherly figure' If tele-ision, or rather the exaggerated and mystifying use that politics ma*es of tele-ision, has replaced the mass political rallies held in the open air, if this li-ely electrical appliance has muddied the waters and created an excessi-e commingling of eye, ear and brain, then we mustn,t forget that historically there has always been a close relation between politics and fashion' The famous case of the sobriquet sans culottes for @rench re-olutionaries deri-es from the fact that they chose to wear long trousers, and so appeared +sans culottes,, that is, without the traditional garment worn by members of the 9ncien 14gime' 6oreo-er, politics has often gi-en names to fashions that spread far beyond restricted political groups: Imperial and Gictorian styles are so-called after, respecti-ely, the political regime and reign during which these dress styles were popular' In rhetoric, a discourse genre called oratio togata recalls the oratorical style of those who wore the senatorial toga in ancient 1ome' 9nd here the relation between language, politics and dress is exemplary' Indeed, 6arguerite Fourcenar claims that in her no-el 6emoirs of ;adrian !"#/") she has the emperor spea* in this way, because it embodies the ideal of masculine dignity in .lassical 9ntiquityA and in support of this claim she adduces the image of the dying .aesar adjusting the folds of his toga' The 9frican-9merican scholar .ornel West !"##?) has identified a similar ideal of dignity in the blac* suit and white shirt worn by 6artin Luther Ping and 6alcolm R as an affirmation of the seriousness and commitment of their fight for blac* ci-il rights' In these last two examples the relation between fashion and politics is in-erted: it is the politician or political stance that determines the dress code, not -ice -ersaA it is the way of concei-ing one,s appearance style that dictates -isibly the 18 (8 significance of a professional commitment' ;ere the politician isn,t conforming to an already established dress code, wearing a uniform or simply wanting to loo* good on tele-ision, but is ma*ing an ethical choice that belittles any flattery or cle-er ad-ice a style councillor might gi-e' Instead of judging politicians on their +top model, effect, as usually happens, why don,t we try and guess which one of them, li*e .aesar, would thin* of adjusting his !or her) toga after being stabbedJ 7otes "' 5il-ana 6angano is an Italian actress from the "#/(s' $' 9 monster that, e-en for Icelanders, comes from the far froen north' ?' %erhaps with unbuttoned jeans, or a slit s*irt' &' Translucent, transparent, changing colour depending on the light, or with mirror-li*e surfaces' /' 5t Lucy is the patron saint of sight' =' 9mos >en 7aeh is an 3rthodox New who runs the creati-e department of an ad-ertising company in Israel' <' This story could pro-ide interesting material for the trenchant irony of an Italian Newish intellectual li*e 6oni 3-adia, who *nows Newish culture inside-out' 0' In the West the -iew still pre-ails that our world is, in some sense, more +ci-ilied,' #' 6adonna used 6eisel,s photographs for her eros-biography 5ex' "( >ras and corsets worn as o-er-garments, tango-style dresses, tight-fitting cardigans with double openings, s*irts slit up to the na-el, 5alome-li*e transparent materials' ""' %hotographed once again by Toscani' "$' The Clema !singular +9lim) are the sages of Islam, those who possess the quality of ilm, instruction in the broadest sense' They are usually theologians, professors, judges or theorists of Islamic law, and in a 6uslim state they form a council which has a role in go-ernment' "?' Lagerfeld had ta*en the incriminating text from a tomb inscription in the Taj 6ahal at 9gra, built in "=?$ by the 6ogul emperor 5hah Nanan in memory of his belo-ed wife, 9rjumand >anu >egum, called 6umta 6ahal, +The %alace @a-ourite,, who died in childbirth in "=?" after $( years of inseparable companionship with the emperor' Lagerfeld mista*enly thought that the inscriptions were amorous -erses, whereas they were, in fact, Poranic -erses, which are often used as a decorati-e feature in Islamic architecture' 19 (8 The @ace and the Bae The fascination of the gae: a -ague allure, a dim recognition in the shape of the face, a hint of a dialogue with the other,s gae' >ut a ris* too: precipitating into the arms of Heath with no return, li*e Durydice sa-ed and lost again by 3rpheus, who loo*s bac* at her too soonA or the ris* of being turned to stone by the 6edusa,s stare' In e-ery human experience the gae leads to irre-ersible situations, signalling the passage to a state in which e-erything seems final' Loo*ing is both changing the world and others, and being changed in turn by their gae' 9 gae which is ne-er direct, howe-er, but always mediated, de-iated, if not impeded by the -eil of our *nowledge, dreams and projections onto the world, images at the intersection of which the +I, that both loo*s and is loo*ed at ta*es shape' The -eil, the co-ering, is textile and garment, but first and foremost it is cultural textile-text, if we ta*e +culture, to mean all the material that goes to ma*e up human thought, language and beha-iour' @ashion inter-enes to mar* ideologically this cultural material, without which fashion itself could not exist' " Then there,s always the danger of meeting 9ctaeon,s fate, changed into a stag by Hiana when he came upon her bathing' +7ow go and tell them that you,-e seen me un-eiled, if you can,, Hiana challenges him, thus celebrating in myth the other ris* brought by the gae, that of becoming mute, a state close to death, gi-en that 9ctaeon as a stag is torn to pieces by his own hounds' Fet another moral: the female body, represented by the -irginal Hiana, is -eiled with *nowledge and yet, when un-eiled, gi-es no access to its own particular truth $ and doesn,t e-en allow men to spea* about it' Thus woman wea-es the final -eil, the death shroud, for the male presumption of telling the truth about a body which is in continuous flux between na*ed and -eiled, garment and s*in' 6ore than any other textile, the -eil simultaneously fulfils two functions: that of creating an interaction between clothes and body, a function common to almost e-ery type of co-ering, and that of exhibiting na*edness through concealment' Fet another irony of clothing, ta*en up periodically by fashion in the use of -oile, chiffon and organa, textiles in which there is a play of transparencies and prohibited gaing' If the -eiled body, li*e the 20 (8 clothed body, is today a non-na*ed body, the fascination of which lies in playing hide and see* with beauty, as 7ietsche says, then there is a part of the body which presents itself as na*ed par excellence, e-en from under the mas* of ma*eup: the face' %erhaps we can spea* of the face,s na*edness because we learn to recognie others especially by their face' It,s more difficult to recognie a person by other parts of their body or their gestures: for example, let your gae fall on their hands or way of wal*ing, concentrate on their -oice or the stylistic flourish in a billet-doux from a -irtual lo-er M lo-ers, secrets, these, or the prerogati-e of astute obser-ers' Baing at the face is, abo-e all, see*ing the other,s gae' This +face-to-face, goes beyond mirror-li*e reflection, though it may recall it, and goes beyond the identity of self' Baing into another,s eyes always brings with it a deflection from the flatness of the reflected image to the refraction of a dialogue' The -eil o-er the face is foreign to western culture, perhaps because the western +subject, is constructed largely on reciprocal gaing' 7e-ertheless, e-ery culture is formed by loo*ing at what is distant, and by constantly loo*ing to the past as a time to regain' @ashion is fully aware of this prerogati-e and today stands at the intersection between cultures world-wide, and between themes that bring together past and present, sacred and profane, near and far' The gae may be de-iated yet again and the face -eiled to excess by the thic* warm fabric of a cagoule' 9 Tuareg citation, perhapsJ In Islam the -eil for women was introduced by the caliph 3mar, who based his +in-ention, on certain -erses in the Poran which recommend that women lower their gae and co-er their head in public' The Tunisian scholar, 6ajid Dl-;oussi, has demonstrated that the use of the -eil for women is closely lin*ed to the importance of the gae in the Islamic world !"#0<: $()' >eing 6uslim means controlling your gae and maintaining a rigid di-ide between male and female' 9 woman,s intimacy is protected by her -eilA and in Islamic tradition this intimacy is called +awra, the root of which !+awr) means the +loss of an eye,, as Dl-;oussi points out, recalling the relation between prohibited sight and loss of sight' In the ;adith the punishment recommended for men who loo* at women not related to them is loss of the faculties of sight, touch and smell' In her analysis of the -eil in Islam, @adwa Dl Buindi !"###a) loo*s at the complex relations between the traditional religious dress code for women in different 6uslim societies and the hierarchies of power, women negotiating their independence and aesthetics' In Islam the gae is per-ersion of the eye, its interdiction, its ina, just as the word is the ina of language, physical contact the ina of hands and wal*ing in desire 21 (8 the ina of feet' 3nly poetry, at once within and without laws and interdictions, can celebrate the gae and -oyeurism' Indeed Dl-;oussi writes that 9rabian secular poetry is a hymn to the eyes and a symphony to the gae, where lo-e can blossom from the mere glimpse of a portrait' The 6uslim woman,s -eil thus originates in a cultural ambi-alence: on the one hand, the gae is prohibited, while on the other it is e-o*ed by the fascination of what is hidden and by the tantaliing allusions in literature inspired by the jasmine-scented harem' In Nudeo-.hristian tradition, on the other hand, the woman is -eiled only for the marriage ceremony: +thou hast do-es, eyes within thy S-eilT M as a piece of pomegranate are thy temples within thy S-eilT, !5ong of 5ongs &'", ='<)' Bree* and 1oman brides were -eiled tooA indeed, the Latin word nubere meaning +to -eil, also meant +to marry,' The -eil of the .hristian bride thus deri-es from this tradition, which lin*s the ;ebrew, Bree* and 1oman worlds' The -eil as symbol of chastity and modesty, un-eiling as symbol of an irre-ersible step: loss of -irginity' Today the bridal -eil sur-i-es in form, not in content' If the nuptial -eil is symbolically lin*ed to sexuality, as an in-itation to the bridegroom to dis-co-er both face and sex, the .hristian con-entual -eil deri-es instead from the suffibulum of 1oman -estal -irgins, which co-ers the head but lea-es the face unco-ered, with considerable loss of fascination, one might add' +Ta*ing the -eil, means renouncing one,s sexuality, subsuming it in one,s lo-e of Bod' To just what extent this may slide into eroticism is gi-en eloquent testimony by >ernini,s sculptural group of The Dcstasy of 5t Theresa' In 6edie-al and 1enaissance iconography, the 6adonna is depicted with a -eil o-er her headA it is often blue 2 though lined with blac* for the 6ater Holorosa, prototype of the .hristian woman -eiled in mourning 2 and enriched with gold and precious stones, as this %auline prescription for women in prayer was gradually transformed from a sign of submission into one of refined elegance' The -eil o-er the face is thus a *ey concept in .hristianity: the bridal -eil, the mourning -eil, and the other extreme, the Geronica Geil, with an impression of .hrist,s face on it' This -eil is traditionally attributed with healing properties associated with the legend of Geronica relie-ing .hrist,s suffering on Bolgotha, which is in its turn associated with the apostles, account of .hrist healing a sic* woman' 6oreo-er, in 6edie-al legend, .hrist,s image on the -eil was said to ha-e healed the Dmperor Tiberius when he placed it on his face' 9 thaumaturgic -eil by proxy: blood and the image of the 5a-iour,s face placed o-er a human face li*e a mas*' ;ere the fascination lies in the eternal seduction of Heath regenerating whoe-er touches it, not with their hands but with their face or eyes, which are perhaps the parts we least li*e ha-ing touched' 22 (8 Fet we do indeed +touch, with our eyes and if they are left unco-ered by the Islamic -eil, the western fashion U la belle epoque of a short -eil worn o-er a hat both -eils and un-eils them' Geiled eyes are large, languid and unfathomable, mesmeriing behind the caress of an ostrich boa, the face half-hidden by sumptuous fabrics, as in a Plimt painting' 5o what happens to the gae when the mechanical apparatus of a pair of glasses is placed in front of the eyesJ 3f all the mas*s e-er in-ented for the face, glasses are generally those most moti-ated by a practical need' 7e-ertheless, e-er since they were introduced to the West between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries !6arco %olo recounts that in .hina they were already in use at the court of Publa Phan) the practical function has had to come to terms with an aesthetic function, as we can clearly see in early modern portraits of nobles and notables' The aesthetic function introduces fashion details e-en in the lenses, details that dictate shape, colour and type of material' There is traditionally an unbridgeable gulf between glasses and feminine charm: for example, a short-sighted 6arilyn 6onroe in ;ow to 6arry a 6illionaire constantly hides hers in order better to seduce an ageing financier' 9nd again, ;itchcoc* uses glasses on women in many of his films in order to highlight the contrast between sex appeal and lac* of it, as in Gertigo, or in order to portray a female character as +bad,' >ut e-en these unattracti-e connotations of female eyewear must ine-itably intersect with their opposite: the undeniable fascination emanating from a pair of eyes hidden behind dar* glasses' 5ummer brings to the fore the omnipresent -ision of faces obscured by dar* glasses, e-en though their season is really eternal, especially in the sunny climates of the 6editerranean' 5unglasses were in-ented at the end of the nineteenth century, though the fashion for dar* lenses only really too* off in the "#?(s' Their success coincided with a decline in the use of broad-brimmed hats and bonnets in women,s fashion' 5unglasses with blac* frames and lenses U la >lues >rothers e-en precede the irre-erent blues duo, who turned them into a parodic and stylied sign' %arodic in that they derided the role of this type of sunglasses in the jet set,s wardrobe and stylied in that they transformed into a fashion and a cult object what idols li*e 1ay .harles !who appears in the film) and 5te-ie Wonder used out of necessity' In the golden world of ;ollywood stars, dar* heart- shaped lenses e-o*e the "#/(s image of Pubric*,s Lolita or -oluptuous young maidens in search of success in the age of the baby-boom' In the history of youth styles, on the other hand, illustrious exponents of the fashion for thic*rimmed dar* glasses were the >ritish 6ods, who adopted them as part of 23 (8 their exaggerated collegiate style at the end of the "#/(s' In the same period, a pair of expensi-e and well-made dar* glasses appeared on 6arcello 6astroianni,s nose in La Holce Gita, while in a famous 6artini ad-ertisement that humorously cites characters li*e 6astroianni, 3nassis and 9nita Dc*berg, recreating the atmosphere of those years between Gia Geneto and %ortofino, the characters wear dar* glasses, dangerous -ehicles of mystery, betrayal and complicity' Though in-ented to satisfy the practical need of protecting our eyes from the sun,s rays, dar* glasses ha-e become a particular *ind of fashion item, hiding or -eiling the area around the eyes, and thus modifying salient facial features, often to the point of ma*ing a person unrecogniable' Indeed, the expression +I didn,t recognie you with those glasses on, is a common one, and when we meet someone in the street good manners prescribe ta*ing off our sunglasses so that we can loo* and be loo*ed at directly' Cnless, of course, we deliberately want to mas* our gaeA for example, if we feel embarrassed or are crying, or simply want to hide our identity' There has e-en been a biarre fashion recently for mirror lenses, not only in the mountains, where they ma*e sense, but also in the city, the effect of which is simply to add a -ulgar touch to the face' 5ince the "#<(s sunglasses ha-e been synonymous with the name 1ay >an, the 9merican company that not only introduced the famous pearshaped model, but also inaugurated the fashion for sunglasses with a label, li*e Lacoste for shirts and Le-i,s for jeans' Hespite the introduction of different models to suit different tastes, in the last decade the 1ay >an constellation has been obfuscated by the a-antgarde models of the new cult sunglasses, Web' Pnown abo-e all for the celebrities who wear them, Web glasses effecti-ely represent anti-1ay >ans, since they experiment with ostensibly +poor, materials and biarre shapes, producing a +baroque, effect, whereas 1ay >ans represent a more +classical, style' 1ough metal, screws stic*ing out, spirals connecting the lensesA e-erything exhibits a subtle wit and playful irony of design that guarantee an enthusiastic public of affluent, yet non-eccentric buyers' 9part from these successful name brands, in the context of Italian production !which has recently bro*en all sales records) lenses for all tastes and ages fill the shop windows, and not just the optician,s' Indeed, the latest fashion is for shops that just sell dar* glasses' The most +pop, models of the moment ha-e big, mas*-li*e lenses with titanium or transparent tube frames' 9nd the habit of wearing sports glasses !in the shape of swimming goggles or cyclist,s glasses) is on the increase too: there is e-en a prototype with a rear--iew mirror for pedestrians at ris* in city trafficQ In the near future we will probably witness an ad-ance in the technological function 24 (8 of sunglasses, which will not only shield our eyes from the sun, but also ser-e as a telecommunication instrument or a computer running on solar energy' The face is mas*ed, the face as mas*' What lies behind that smooth brown s*in, those elongated eyes and thic* eyebrows, that round red mouth and bobbed hairJ %erhaps nothing more than the act itself of hiding something' The idea of a bare face to be inscribed with the +signs, of ma*eup ignores the fact that such na*edness is already inscribed, scored by a thousand tales alluding to age, nutrition, medicine, lo-e, origins and so on' 1etracing history and searching in the genealogy of the face for something that might help us understand its phenomenology, a concept stands out: facies, the surface appearance characteriing a type, which ancient medicine read as signs referring to the body,s general state and its collocation in space' The face as mo-eable territory, whose signs ;ippocratic medicine, exemplified by the wor* of Balen, scrutinied, not in terms of anatomy, but of their connection with the surrounding world and with one another, in that state of otherness and oneness intrinsic to e-ery li-ing being' Fet those signs were regulated by a strict morality: in Balen physical health !of face and body), the source of all +natural, beauty, is opposed to +false, beauty obtained through strange artifice' .osmetica-commotica: %lato clearly distinguishes between the two, lin*ing the art of cosmetics to rhetoric, sophistry and the culinary arts, while care of the body is lin*ed to gymnastics, medicine and dialectics' The %latonic condemnation of ma*eup poses the problem of legitimacy as one of truth 2 or -ice -ersa' 7e-ertheless, ancient medicine wasn,t able to draw a precise boundary between the two arts: bodily health requires remedies that wa-er between nature and artifice, and thus Balen,s prescriptions for lightening the face or smoothing the s*in are implicitly inspired by a philosophy of beauty as construct and culture, not nature' @or classical writers, ma*eup was part of the art of seduction, whether for courtesans or in literary transpositions of the ars amatoria' 3-id ignores morality and nature and praises ma*eup as part of sensual, narcissistic pleasures 2 est etiam placuisse sibi quaecumque -oluptas 2 and he collects recipes and prescriptions for beauty treatments that ha-e all the +fla-our, of culinary recipes' Irony at %lato,s expense: commotica and gastronomyJ 9 healthy face thus seems ine-itably lin*ed to writing, whether directly on its surface, or in the prescribing and describing of ma*eup' The prescription e-ades the norm, howe-er, and is always accompanied by a +degustation,, as in culinary recipes, that relies on memory and the description of the way in which the recipe was followed on a particular occasion 25 (8 !an occasion that may turn out to be unique and unrepeatable, but ne-ertheless may be transcribed)' 6a*eup is the beauty of the face ta*en to excess, in the total arbitrariness of the signs exhibited on it' The use of cosmetics is an art that does not ha-e the same transforming power and significance as theatrical ma*eup, and it is perhaps this delicacy and precariousness that ma*e it +feminine,' In L,4loge du maquillage >audelaire commends the female pri-ilege of borrowing from all the arts the means to rise abo-e nature through the so-ereign art of ma*eup' @or >audelaire !"0=?: ?(=) nature is but an e-il ad-isor that leads men to commit heinous crimes, whereas -irtue lies in artifice, and hence in ma*eup, clothes and elaborate hairstyles' @urthermore, writes >audelaire, those societies considered +close to nature, by the Duropean mind re-eal an understanding of the profound spirituality of artifice and disguise, as shown by their attraction for all that glistens, for colourful plumage, artificial forms, face painting, mas*s and so on' The western idea of nature is thus far from the +primiti-e, and +natural, societies of which >audelaire spea*sA it is a mythical horion which is itself the product of artifice and in-ention' 6a*eup plays with nature in those parts of the face that are most exposed to the world: s*in, eyes and mouth' The s*in: a discreet in-olucrum in its folds, wrin*les, colouring and texture' The eyes: the gae bestows them immediately on the other, e-en before that +other, has been seen or recognied' The mouth accompanies three important moments in the relations between bodies: spea*ing, eating and lo-e-ma*ing' In emphasiing writing and colour, in replenishing the s*in and co-ering the face, ma*eup paradoxically recalls the face,s authentic na*edness' The lin* between ma*eup and seduction cannot be banally summed up in terms of enticement and pro-ocationA the na*edness e-o*ed by ma*eup is the erotic na*edness of the female face, called by the philosopher of otherness, Dmmanuel L4-inas, perturbation, in-asion of non- significance in the significance of the face !L4-inas "#<&)' The face is a sign of recognition, a surface patina exposed to relations, its identity is contaminated by apertures that expose it to the world: a symptom, a blush, a grimace' 6a*eup treats these apertures ironically and in-ests female beauty with a mixture of chastity and obscenity, containment and immoderation' >arthes discerned in Napanese theatre, especially in *abu*i, the emptiness of the made- up face !"#<(: "(<)' The actors in *abu*i, all men, paint their faces with a hea-y white substance, which reduces the face to an +empty expanse of white stuff, !>arthes "#<(: "(/) onto which the elongated slits of eyes and mouth are incised' The absence of meaning in this face is due to a total absence of expressi-eness, to a writing that says +nothing, 26 (8 !>arthes "#<(: "(<)' In the West, on the other hand, it is the superabundance of signs inscribed on the face that renders them +intransiti-e,, de-oid of any possible equi-alence' In ma*eup we can identify two ways of +writing, the face: the imperceptible, that concentrates on the s*in to ma*e it smoother and more luminous, and the graphic, or conspicuous, that accentuates contours and colours' The di-iding line between imperceptible and graphic is by no means clear, howe-er: a mascara may lengthen and thic*en the lashes, miming an in-isible naturalness, while a foundation may be particularly dense and so openly declare its presence on the face' D-en curati-e cosmetics may ha-e a graphic effect: for example, by restoring compactness to mature s*in' 9nd if exaggerated, with the use of sunlamps, e-en the +natural, and curati-e effect of a suntan may become graphic' @ashion, that legislator without laws, that sign of the times outside time, regulates the forms of cosmetic art' The ethics of fashion, which for >audelaire resided in a taste for the ideal, has transformed that ideal into one of a replaceability of signs, not as an equal exchange, but as a +waiting for the next one,, according to ;eidegger, gi-en the rhythms of anticipation and fascination with the moment that go to create an +instantaneous, body, whose fragmentary replaceability supplants both wear-and-tear and ageing' ;eidegger writes: Today being means being replaceable M in the phenomenon of fashion, toilette and ornament are no longer necessary !which is why fashion as toilette has become as obsolete as mending) but the replaceability of the model from season to season' We no longer change a garment because it is worn-out, but because it has the specific character of being the garment of the moment, waiting for the next one' !;eidegger, "#<<: "(<) In this economy of the body, in the eternal waiting for a replacement, mending and repairing only find a place if they challenge time' Today ma*eup ta*es this law to its extreme: not only is ma*eup an eternally replaceable mas* in its graphic dimension, but it creates a constant structural mutability in the face, e-en if simply curati-e' 9 cream for wrin*les or spots, a hair dye, a -ial to combat dry s*in: today the challenge is to get there first, to stop time, in a state of ecstatic expectation' Will the s*in dry out again if we stop using that lotion, is the natural colour of the hair peeping out at the rootsJ Is the artificial body perhaps menaced by natureJ 3r can we write the face not just with artifice, but with fatigue, wrin*les and neglectJ This too is part of the game, since buffoonery, irony and selfirony all ha-e a place in the world of fashion today' 27 (8 7ature and artifice contaminate each other and cosmetics today cite li-ing organisms: algae, placenta, herbs, mil* and so on' This new game recalls ancient remedies conser-ed in fol*lore, witchcraft and ballads, where some of the ingredients were e-en +baser, !blood, excrement), but also comprised herbs, flowers and honey' 9s if the organic analogy, whether in the ancient alchemist,s laboratory or the modern chemical company, could ser-e to cure or disguise the face through an in-ersion of the life flow, regenerating life through death' 7otes "' @ashion and clothes ha-e always been related to +futile, problems that ne-ertheless point to more serious philosophical and cultural issues' The notion of truth, for example, a fundamental problem in western philosophy, was called by the Bree*s aletheia, at once re-elation and concealmentA and this bodily and conceptual play of re-ealed and concealed is at the heart of much western philosophy and literature' $' In traditional allegorical representation Truth is a na*ed woman' 28 (8 8 Intertextual Strategies and Contemporary yt!ology The imagery of the clothed body is produced through intertextual strategies in which fashion interacts with photography, journalism, music, sport, tele-ision, metropolitan culture, computers, design and cinema' The construction of the social signification of dress passes through widespread inter-semiotic practices which allow the construction and deconstruction of styles and tastes, a *ind of na-igating through signs where one can choose between a sense of belonging and tra-esty' In this form of communication fashion constructs its own worldly space !see .alefato "##$a, "##=) and produces a multidimensional world' Barments become -ehicles of desire, they ta*e on social significations that draw on different communicati-e uni-erses' 3ur desire to dress in a certain way !as a bridge to a certain life-style) is based on an emotional mechanism defined by Breimas !"#0?) as expectation, which puts the subject in relation to an object of -alue, in this case the garment, an object in-ested with -alue, or -alues, on the basis of social appro-al' Than*s to this social appro-al the -alue-laden object allows the subject to enter into relation with other subjects and the expectation to go from being +simple, to being +fiduciary, in that it presupposes just such a relation !Breimas "#0?)' We can use the notion of expectation to interpret semiotically the expression +remo-ed meaning, used by Brant 6c.rac*en !"#00) to indicate the sociocultural strategy through which consumer objects fill the gap between real and ideal in social life' In this mechanism emotional in-estment concerns multidimensional forms of sensation rooted in -arious social discourses' In this way objects in the consumer uni-erse of fashion, objects comprising the generic whole >arthes calls +dress, !"##0: ==), become myths, in the sense of +linguistic theft,, of ma*ing natural something that has been culturally and socially constructed !>arthes "#/<)' 7ot only the star system and the system of glossy worldliness surrounding fashion today as a social institution, but the whole system itself of fashion objects belongs 29 (8 to this +mythical, dimension present in the -arious social discourses through which fashion is expressed and circulated' In his essays on contemporary mythologies, fifteen years after the publication of 6ythologies, >arthes !"#0&: =<2 0) clearly grasps the multidimensional and pluri-discursi-e nature of contemporary myth' >arthes tended to a-oid the new catechism of post-"#=0 demystification, and this choice led him to construct new figures of discourse, new spaces for reflection on myth and communication' The figure of the +idiolect,, in particular, constituted a *ind of ambi-alent one both for the reproduction of myth and resistance to it' The trans-textual system of signs and discourses that defines fashion today expresses itself through +idiolects,, that is, spaces within which the social subject anchors its identity to images and objects that circulate the body in society, while gi-ing an impression of the uniqueness, exclusi-eness and originality of e-ery sign exhibited, e-ery garment worn' Thus a close connection is established between the way in which the subject imagines and communicates his:her styles !life style, dress sense, way of thin*ing) and the perception of his:her social identity in all its multiple and negotiable forms' 5o it becomes interesting to loo* at those aspects of the system which best represent unusual -alues and unexpected excesses' 7ot so much in terms of an ideological +symbolic resistance, to myth and consumption, but rather in the search for an unstable tension between the logic of social reproduction and its aesthetic and sensorial reception and elaboration by social subjects' .lothing is sometimes a way of dreaming an imaginary inhabitable world' @rom a linguistic point of -iew, this is expressed in the way in which the garment is metonymic with regard to the body: +red shirt,, for example, indicates both the garment and a member of Baribaldi,s fleet and represents an exemplary mixture of clothing and utopia' 9n historical utopia, howe-er much the two terms !history and utopia) may be at odds: the +red shirt, belongs to a reality that actually happened, li*e its sister the +white shirt, of 1obespierre and Lenin, but also of 8apata and Boya,s riflemen' Ctopias of -arying import, certainly, yet all utopias enough to ma*e the +white shirt, a positi-ely e-ocati-e sign !unli*e its opposite the +blac* shirt,)' The influence of this item on the imagery of dress is e-ident in contemporary men,s fashion, where it is used by designers li*e Holce I Babbana, who are inspired by the traditional costume of 5outhern Italian men, those who were +liberated, by the +red shirts,' There has always been a close relation between clothing and utopia for the simple reason that e-ery utopia 2 whether in literature, philosophy or cinema 2 is populated by clothed human beings' 9 single +emblem,, an 30 (8 object such as a scarf, a brooch or a slogan on a T-shirt, can sometimes con-ey the passage to a utopian world' The meaning thus con-eyed by these objects is no longer simply functional or practical, but a means of entry to the utopia of a body which is not ours, or of a world with which we share -alues and ideals and to which we feel we belong, perhaps depending on our adherence to a group' The recommendation of a way of dressing as far away as possible from luxury and ostentation was characteristic of utopias in the past, li*e 6ore,s !"/"=) and .ampanella,s !"=($)A clothing was supposed to be comfortable and differed only according to the age and sex of the person wearing it' In .ampanella,s La cittU del sole, for example, the inhabitants wear a *ind of toga o-er a white undergarment, *nee length for the men and full length for the women' 3n the island of Ctopia wool and linen fabrics are the most widely used, because of their purity' 5il* is abhorred because it is too close to the dress aesthetic of 6ore,s own day, from which he was trying to distance himself' @rancis >acon,s 7ew 9tlantis !"=$&), on the other hand, is inhabited by characters who seem to ha-e stepped out of an oriental fancy dress party, in turbans and colourful baggy trousers !see 9' 1ibeiro, "##?)' In the nineteenth century women,s trousers were considered a re-olutionary garment by women who were just beginning to fight for their own utopia, their ci-il rights' 9round the mid-nineteenth century across the 9tlantic on the streets of 7ew Dngland, the famous bloomers appeared, the wide, calf-length trousers worn under a s*irt and named after 9melia >loomer, a women,s rights acti-ist, who was one of the first to wear them' >loomers were also worn by members of the fifty or more utopian socialist communities inspired by the theories of 5aint-5imon, @ourier and 3wen, which emerged in 9merica between "0$( and "0=(' In the twentieth century utopian foresight was entrusted to science fiction, beginning with the modern utopia created by ;' B' Wells !"#(/), a critical disciple of @abian socialism, who concei-ed his +samurai,, rulers !of both sexes) in an imaginary society, dressed in the style of the ancient Templars' Fet often the science fiction world is also the world of dystopias, li*e the well-*nown example from cinema, 6etropolis, by @rit Lang, where the inhabitants of the underground city, all depicted with their heads bowed because of the wor* to which they are submitted, are dressed in identical dar* uniforms' 9 similar scenario is that of 3rwell,s "#0&, in which a blue boiler suit is prescribed for all party members' In 3rwell,s dar* imaginary world the maximum simplification and homologation of clothing finds a parallel in the mono-thematic reduction wrought by the principles of the +new language,, which the Dnglish writer predicts will ha-e substituted common language by around $(/(' 31 (8 @or some historians of costume there is nothing further from fashion than utopia, since the goal of change in e-ery utopia !or dystopia) is change towards an objecti-e, whereas fashion follows an intrinsic law of change as an end in itself !1ibeiro "##?)' 7e-ertheless, fashion, especially fashion that accompanies a +narrati-e, 2 whether it be the caption in a specialied magaine or the reference to an historical style 2 always constructs a +world theatre,, a time and place which do not exist in reality, yet which are made to exist through the signs decreed by fashion' 9s examples of this +world theatre, >arthes indicates fashion headlines li*e +6uslin or taffeta for summer e-enings, or +%rints win at the races, !>arthes "#=<: ?&)A and he defines a garment presented -erbally or graphically in a fashion magaine as a true utopia !"##0: 0< 2 note)' To these fashion utopias and narrati-es we must add all those scenarios represented by styles, especially in youth culture, inspired by +tribal, projects, or laws, which are antithetical to the institutionalied laws of dress and which, instead, tune into fantastic worlds, in part created by technological imagery' .inema has always recorded the most -aried forms of bodily adherence to utopian worlds' The 5tar Wars saga, for example, through the use of costume and grotesque body imagery, stages an +inter-ethnic, and +intergalactic, mix of creatures and humans, which in the narrati-e finds a meeting point in 6oss ;ealey,s inn' The shadowy metropolis in >lade 1unner is populated by humans and replicants, one of whom, the film,s main female character, ma*es her first appearance dressed in blac* leather with exaggeratedly wide shoulders, li*e a +flesh-and-blood, micro-chip citation of the mechanical creature in 6etropolis' What science fiction films ha-e accustomed us to is the equi-alent in film imagery of today,s hybrid reality' This reality is accurately represented in all those films dealing with subjects li*e emigration and the relation between +minorities, and an +4lite,, both in the big cities and in the peripheries' 6ississippi 6asala by the Indian director 6yra 7air, for example, tells the story of an Indian family who had pre-iously li-ed in Cganda, but had been forced to emigrate to 9merica, where we witness the contrast between the young daughter 2 who has completely assimilated the +habits, of 9merican youth and who falls in lo-e with a +blac*, boy 2 and the older, more traditional women in their saris' In the "#=(s .aroselli " artificial fibres made up the in-entory of shirts, slips and chaste white underwear in the age of the Italian economic boom' 7ylon, terital, dacron: the artificial led us to belie-e in lower prices, less effort while ironing, garments that loo*ed to the future and explicitly alluded to the national and international boom of the chemical industry' 32 (8 9nd whoe-er would ha-e suspected the less than total +cleanliness, from this industry, in e-ery sense of the wordJ 9 far-off memory, a naV-e enthusiasm for a mar*et smelling of polyamides, is today obscured by a mistrust towards anything which, in one way or another, harms our a-erage concept of +natural,' Today, in fashion discourse, habits rooted in materials made of synthetic fibres are in crisis in the name of ecology' Hesigners, fashion houses and +committed, models ha-e heralded the dawn of an age of +natural, fabrics, especially cashmere, cotton, -el-et, sil* and wool, all fabrics that ne-er really disappeared from e-eryday wear, in any case' $ 7atural dyeing processes are becoming more and more popular, as it has been pro-en that dyeing is one of the most polluting phases in the production of fabrics, because of the harmful residues, which are usually eliminated in sewage water' 7atural colours, li*e those used by an Italian hosiery company, are ta*en from the hull and lea-es of nuts, or from a .entral 9merican shrubA brail nut buttons, nec*laces made of haelnuts and almond hus*s: today ecology becomes fashion' %rices are ob-iously -ery high in haute couture ecology' In more widespread and e-eryday fashion consumption, howe-er, the ecological direction has been followed for some time, e-en though the resonance created by high-profile ad-ertising, which is typical of institutional fashion, is missing' %articularly since our mar*ets ha-e opened their doors to textile production from 9sia !countries li*e >angladesh, Taiwan, 6alaysia, India, 5ingapore and .hina), oriental sil*s and cottons ha-e been adapted to western-style clothingA perhaps not -ery refined in their cut and style, but attracti-e all the same for their low prices' Fet such prices also denounce the low cost of manual labour in these countries, which is notoriously exploited by western fashion houses' The long wor*ing hours and appalling li-ing conditions of these wor*ers could hardly be deemed +ecological,Q 9 textile is a text, one of the texts of which our clothing imagery is made: just as the metaphorical wea-e gi-es life to a text 2 in the common sense of the word, whether written or oral 2 so the wea-e of a textile is what gi-es it a plot, a narrati-e, which exist than*s to the contact of the textile on the body' %erhaps it is the tactile, tangible dimension of textiles that leads us to reflect on how important it is to rid this contact of a production that has largely destroyed the relation between human beings and nature' %erhaps our body continues to hide a secret reser-e somewhere, a reser-e that resists dehumaniation, and in as*ing for natural contact we are probably implicitly alluding to this need to resist, without e-en realiing it, as when we enjoy a wal* in the mountains or a swim in an unpolluted sea' 9nd perhaps it is here that fashion discourse meets a less 33 (8 con-entional discourse, a sensibility that public communication does not *now how to translate' 9mongst those childhood memories that lea-e a mar* because they concern the construction of a clothing image in relation to one,s gender, the memory of the fur coat and its role in the so-called +opulent society, of the "#=(s is for me one of the most -i-id' I particularly remember a fur coat manque4, my mother,s, who li*e other women of her generation dreamt of ha-ing +a min* before you,re forty,' @or, as ;ollywood films li*e ;ow to 6arry a 6illionaire taught us, the min* was for the woman who had +arri-ed,, unless you were among the luc*y few who, at twenty-fi-e, could afford a whole coat, not of min*, but of bea-er or e-en ultra-sophisticated leopard' In my house the min* was missing, howe-er, mainly because lower middle-class families at that time thought it was more useful to spend their sa-ings on buying a house, rather than wasting them on a fur coat' Through my youthful eyes the argument for ha-ing a new coat made of fabric e-ery two or three years, rather than *eeping a single fur coat for life, seemed much more con-incing, no matter how seducti-e the fur coat might ha-e seemed to me' When my generation was young, no one thought it hypocritical to be friends with animals and yet ha-e a mother at home with a fur coat' 7e-ertheless, it was well *nown, especially in 5outhern Italy, where the thermometer almost ne-er hit ero, that the fur coat was a status symbol, not a necessity, and that the higher one went up the social scale the greater the number of fur coats, jac*ets and stoles crowded into wardrobes, not to mention the boas that win*ed eerily through the hangers, gi-ing the impression that the animal was there ready to wrap itself round the unluc*y owner,s nec*' 9t 5ant,9mbrogio in "#=0, for the opening of La 5cala in 6ilan, and then at La >ussola in Giareggio, the min*s, leopards and ermines paraded on the bourgeoisie were targeted by protesting students and the fur coat became the negati-e symbol par excellence of its owner,s social status' In the early "#<(s young hippies disco-ered 9fghan jac*ets, smelling of oriental pastures, and wore them o-er long dresses made of Indian cotton, whilst swaying to the music of the sitar' 3r perhaps they dug around in their grandmothers, trun*s or at second-hand mar*ets and found old mon*ey boleros or +balding, stoles to wear o-er jeans' This anti-fashion did not stop the fur industry, howe-er' 3n the contrary, in the "#<(s it joined the designer fashion industry' 5oldano, @endi, Ti-ioli 2 to name just a few of the Italian companies 2 launched the prOt-U-porter animal, using styles, models and in-entions which until then had been the exclusi-e property of haute couture artisans' 6ost buyers of fur coats, 34 (8 howe-er, were then, and still are today, loyal to the small, trusted manufacturer, and the role of handmade production !as opposed to industrial production) is still more substantial here than in any other clothing sector' The furrier is still trusted today, both because clients wish to follow the production of a garment from start to finish and because a fur coat is still an item which, for the a-erage customer, will ha-e to last and will thus need to be adjusted and altered as the body changes shape' 3nly a s*illed artisan can guarantee such long-term ser-ice' @rom the "#<(s the +class, protest against the fur coat began to be accompanied by protest from the animal protection leagues' It became e-er clearer that, as in other sectors, the relation between the production of goods and the conser-ation of nature and its equilibrium was getting out of control' If people in the coldest parts of the world had been able to wear fur coats for centuries without endangering the sur-i-al of animal species, mass production, for a mar*et not moti-ated solely by necessity, put at ris* the li-es of species on the brin* of extinction, if not already extinct' There are places where a fur coat is by no means a luxury, but simply a climatic necessity that padded jac*ets or +ecological, furs can substitute only up to a point' The absurdity of our times is that the indiscriminate slaughter of animals has upset an equilibrium which had existed in such places for thousands of years' There are laws and international con-entions that protect certain wild animals from being hunted, and this has enabled some species to reco-erA howe-er, it is well *nown that poaching is widespread, especially in countries whose economy is traditionally based on the exportation of furs' @endi and other designers are always telling us that their furs come exclusi-ely from fur farms, but this argument, albeit true and well documented, seems less and less sufficient to con-ince us that fur coats are +harmless,' D-en some models ha-e refused to wear furs, thereby lending support to the moral of that famous ad-ertisement in which a fashion show exhibiting furs is transformed into a blood bath' There is no doubt that the once popular dream of ha-ing +a min* on your s*in, must today measure itself against the current perception that this wa-e of blood is a reality, not just a theatrical scene' 5ome indication of a change in mentality can be seen in the increase in sales of classic wool coats and jac*ets padded with goose down or made of synthetic leather' D-en sheeps*ins are an issue for the radically pro-animal organiations: sheep might not be wild or on the brin* of extinction, but they are animals nonethelessQ 9t the first sign of winter the first furs !fewer and fewer today) appear on the streets of a warm Italy: a ritual garment in the wardrobes of elderly 35 (8 ladies, who would not *now what to do without one' The symbol of an ephemeral economic boom, in times of easy money, or a garment worn with con-iction at any age and without excusesJ In order to be completely loyal to the pro-animal dictum, we should no longer wear leather shoes, bags, or e-en the much lo-ed leather bi*er jac*et' >ut the war against fur coats is a war which ma*es distinctions, with intelligence and without fundamentalism' 9bo-e all, it is a symbolic war, articulated around an exemplary +anti-fur, discourse, in which direct action joins education, including that of little girls, to whom the elderly ladies of today perhaps ought not to pass on their dreams of a min* coat, but rather a framed photograph of a beautiful li-e min*, running wild in the forest' 7otes "' 9 popular ad-ertising tele-ision programme in Italy in the "#=(s' $' 9mong the artificial fabrics that seem to ha-e been sa-ed from +naturalist, propaganda is -iscose, a fibre of natural origins that comes from wood pulp and is widely used for linings, sweaters, suits, blouses and leisure clothing' 1ayon -iscose, in-ented in Dngland at the end of the nineteenth century and in widespread use after the 5econd World War, is perhaps the best *nown' 36 (8