To what extent does it make sense to refer to 'the language of clothes'?
Guidance
For general guidance about what is expected in your essays for this module, see the general criteria.
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What Key Features Do I Look For?
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Please remember to avoid footnotes and to include an alphabetical list of 'References' which have been cited in the text (not a Bibliography of anything you have read for the essay). This list should include author's names, date, book titles (in italics), place of publication and publisher. Within the text always cite author's surname, date and page number. Double-space your text and number your pages. For more detailed notes on writing essays in this department, click here.
Advice for this particular assignment: Is the use of the term 'language' in relation to clothes 'merely a metaphor'? In what ways is it like a language and in what ways is it not? Are some examples more language-like than others? What, for instance, of 'dress codes'? Can conventions in the wearing of clothes be seen as language-like and, if so, in what ways? Roland Barthes (1967) famously described the elements of the 'garment system' as being like parts of speech and their rules of combination as being rather like a grammar. The elements are the types of clothes that could theoretically be worn together at the same time (such as headgear and footwear, coats and so on). For each type, there are choices (e.g. a specific hat from all the possible headgear available). In this way, the elements can be seen as similar to the choices of words within a sentence (not unlimited, since any given word could only be replaced by a word having the same function).
Note also that this is an assignment for which the inclusion of relevant pictorial illustrations is expected. These should be inserted electronically into your Word document rather than cut-and-pasted in. You can scan such illustrations in from print sources, save them from disk-based sources, download them from online sources (such as my Powerpoint slides) or even create them from scratch in a graphics package. Use them to help you to make points more effectively. Label each one, 'Figure 1' etc. and add a caption.
Some suggested reading
Note: Treat with extreme caution sources labelled with this symbol!
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