In or Out?

In History of Beauty, Umberto Eco grapples with the means by which beauty is determined and further how beauty is used within society. He explains that beauty is “an adjective that we often employ to indicate something that we like” (Eco 8). Hence, beauty is subjective as the individual determines the value of beauty. Furthermore, he states that there is a “close relationship forged by the modern age between Beauty and Art” (Eco 10). As we discussed in class, this correlation revolves around the importance of perspective and judgment.

Correspondingly, in Beauty, Richard Scurton surmises “style is one of the features of everyday aesthetic judgment that we carry over into art, where it takes on a wholly new significance” (Scurton 93). Style becomes art when it is expressed through fashion. The portrayal of beauty in style, more specifically in fashion is thus shaped by the employment of aesthetic choice. While Scurton explains, “fashion is a guide to aesthetic choices”, these choices are not necessarily recognized universally as beautiful (Scurton 93). Nonetheless, fashion “communicates meanings” and frames the world around us (Scurton 93). Therefore the aesthetic choices that are purposed through fashion, can be acknowledged as innovative and “allude to a certain form of life”, but do not have to address what is considered the ideal beauty of the specific time (Scurton 92).

This discourse on aesthetic judgment and choice prompted me to evaluate the blog entitled “The Man Repeller” http://www.manrepeller.com/. The blog serves as a commentary on fashion trends and their place within “the everyday social existence” (Scurton 93). More specifically, the blog addresses trends that are regarded as “offensive way that will result in repelling members of the opposite sex” (The Man Repeller). She constantly relates new fashion trends back to something that society has deemed to be ugly. While the blogger recognizes the absurdity and sometimes truly “ugliness” of these trends, she is guilty of supporting and taking pleasure in them as well.

As we observe, fashion, at times, does not engage with the body in ways that would be universally considered flattering or beautiful. However the entire fashion industry revolves around the body and expressing one’s self through the expression of one’s body. This generates some questions: Is beauty of ultimate value in regards to fashion? Is fashion trying to redefine what we consider beautiful or ugly? How is fashion internalized when it is observed as a commodity rather than as art? Is there a difference between fashion as an art form and fashion as a commodity?

However fashion is not only expressed through the trends produced in the fashion industry. As Scurton explains, fashion is a “communal adoption of style” that takes place in everyday life (Scurton 93). In Metropolis: Beauty Ideals Worldwide (shorts), we examined various physical appearance practices that take place around the world, Mustaches of Egypt, Wigs in Israel and Perfect Body of Suriname. In all of these instances, it is apparent that beauty is defined for the person rather than the other way around. In this sense, the individual takes part in performing and observing beauty. There is an underlying theme in all three of these films that discusses tradition or a “passing down” of aesthetic choices.

Correspondingly, these customs or symbols of what constitute beauty contribute to the process of defining space. As David Morley observes in Home Territories: Media, Mobility and Identity, “a unified sense of self and nation” originates from an “image of unity” (Morley 31). This image of unity emphasizes a “common” character, which a group of individuals possess. While in today’s society fashion does not necessarily have to be culturally specific, aesthetic choices do aid in the placement of individuals within society. Furthermore, this creation of the spaces within society “depends on the exclusion or ‘othering’ of any foreign element that disrupts that image of unity” (Morley 31). Morley emphasizes the process of exclusion as a primary component in the defining of a specific space. Again, we see a binary discourse. Through this process, boundaries can be visually comprehensible.

In this light, does beauty create a specific space within society? If so, is this space universal, or nation/culture specific?

Bibliography:

Eco, Umberto, and Alastair McEwen. History of Beauty. New York: Rizzoli, 2004. Print.

The Man Repeller. Web. 01 Oct. 2010. .

Morley, David. Home Territories: Media, Mobility and Identity. London: Routledge,

2000. Print.

Scruton, Richard. Beauty. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009. Print.