Listening to monotonous sounds of sewing machines rattling in a dressmaking studio nearby, I am left wondering what effect would such a constant supply of auditory assaults have on a child threading their nimble fingers through consoles whirring in dim hums that never leave ears even during sleep.
And having observed just how the garments manufacturing industry is so inundated with exploitative labor practices, one can only wonder how did such a beautiful art find itself at the heart of modern day slavery, which spans its tentacles from cultivation of cotton, throughout production chains that strangle all sphere is life on tour fragile planet.
But how or why did our species end up needing clothes?
Another thought rears its gaze and asks: “Were garments reactionary crafty devices to help our fragile bodies in times of inclement weather?
Did climatic conditions solely determine the evolution of garments within human groups living is disparate conditions?
And considering various epochs of our evolution and humanity’s progressive development of tools to carve a civilization that would include garments, how did gender become a determining factor for specific designs?
Why did most cultures that developed outside of the European colonial canon, seem to have evolved different utilization methodologies for garments that were not rooted in gender?
Are these divergent utilitarian purposes of garments in various cultures deterministic of identities and their orientations in regards to sexuality, religious inclinations, gender and age?
It has been evinced that many Oriental cultures have donned “twin-legged” garments for ages, and not on gender basis, as much as certain European males wore heels to elevate their or posture or perhaps stature.
This then further leads me to ask: “When did the masculinization of trousers in western culture occur, for instance, within the overall history of garments?
Were garments created to conceal our nakedness as a species that was growing ashamed of itself?
Did genitalia determine these “genderized designs”, now applied and implied tools of bodily concealment?
What determined which genitalia deserved more concealment, for instance?
And how did this separation of garments through gendered lenses evolve a more deviant misogyny as evident in a masculine culture that associates men with trousers and women with heels?
How did this subordination of one sex by another through garments evolve further to exploit the very craft of garment production through employment of child labor?
I always found it intriguing that in most ancient cultures making of garments was central to familial bonds, thus garments were made by nurturers of each unit, as opposed by factories full of blistered hands of underpaid workers.
Therefore, how did such an art that embraced identity differentiation fostered by collective efforts become usurped to become a ploy for self-gratification; when a privileged other finds expensive shoes made by a child slave as symbol of their success?
No comments:
Post a Comment