ARTS2904 Dressed to Kill: Dress and Identity in History
TIPS for your Photographic Exercise/Individual Exercise
1. It is easier to choose a person who has a ‘signature attire’—a item of clothing or
way of dressing that they have chosen to associate with themselves. Remember
Gandhi and Khadi for example or in the sample reading you have the Mao suit.
Your job is to analyze that signature attire – the many meanings of that attire.
Why did your subject choose to dress that way and why?
Have an argument in support of it.
2. Collect a portfolio of photographs that show this signature attire or show how they
dress… for you to ANALYSE. So do not just describe the attire but analyze what
it means.
3. Remember that the subject (as well as the photographer but for this exercise focus
on the subject) has an agenda. What is the agenda?
4. Do you think that audiences understood the signs?
5. In what way are the photographs of paintings a ‘staged event’?
6. What message does the subject and photographer want to deliver and how do they
use dress (include deportment, use of space etc.) to deliver that message/s
7. To which audience is s/he speaking?
8. What about the use of space, background, what is there and what do the objects in
the background (or the absence thereof) also mean? Who is at the centre of the
photograph and how much space do they occupy? Remember that dress is also
about status and this is also connected to consumption practices
9. What is the most important thing that draws your attention in the picture
10. Analyze deportment and gestures as well.
11. Think about gender and class.
12. What is absent from the photograph of what is the missing story?
13. You as a scholar do an interpretation based on what you know the official
message is incorporating the missing message and analyze the photograph with
these in mind.
*In order to do all this of course there has to be a historical and social context.
So some research is always needed. You will see the tutorial readings are good
models for this so when you do the readings think about how the scholars have
done the above and embedding the analysis in the historical context.
For models for your photograph exercise you will be reading the essay by
Verity Wilson who analyzes official photographs of political figures in China.
Reading: Verity Wilson, “Dressing for Leadership in China: Wives and Husbands in
an Age of Revolutions (1911-1976), Gender & History, Vol 14, Issue 3, November
2002, pp. 608-628.
14** Do not forget your one page bibliography. Submit a list of sources you
consulted for this project, you can include the photos if you like