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INSTITUTIONAL CLOTHING
i.Jails; At one time in our history jails did not make
the inmates wear special clothing. TheY dressed in what
ever they had on when they were arrested. If that wore
out they had to rely on relatives, friends or their own
wits to supply them with new. Or should I say old
clothes that were new to the wearer.
It was the United States that created the “prison
garb.’ When too many men began to break out of the
jails they made a form of clothing that would bring
attention to them on the outside. The stripped cloth.
Black and white stripes were introduced to the fabric
that made up prison clothes. Sometimes the stripes ran
up and down, sometimes across the clothing. This style
of clothing for inmates went out of fashion by the
seventies. One of the reasons being that some jails are
now not very different than country clubs and we wouldn‘t
want the inmates to feel like they are being unduly
punished by being made to wear prison garb that looks
like prison garb.
There are many forms of institutions in the world.
First we must define what an institution is or consists
of. Institutions are government run. They consist of;
jails, mental institutions, hospitals, medical centres,
care homes, research labs, in other words any large
group of people that are controlled by government
beurocracy. And these workers always want to set
themselves apart from the patients, or inmates. So the
trick is; either they wear the uniforms or the inmates
wear them. Whites, or lab coats are the usual wear, or
white uniforms or grean or blue, but everyone on the
administration side wears a uniform of a distinct cut
or color to set themselves apart. (or else there
sometimes isn’t much to distinguish them from the
inmates.) And of course the workers get to carry sharp
instruments around with them like pens and pencils.
They also have clipboards, keys, and walkie-talkies.
SOCIAL USES.
PRIVACY
a. When we think of privacy we usually think of
isolation. Of being away from others in a place set
apart. Sometimes that is not always possible. We must
go out in public to do neccessary business. We have
created and designed ways of dressing to give us that
sense of privacy in public. Sometimes it works,
sometimes it doesn’t. One method for both men and women
has been the veil. For men this usually consisted of a
length of fabric wrapped around the head. In very hot
country’s this started as protection from winds, sun,
and sand. But these people continue to wear this form
of headgear even when they do not suffer from any of
the above. In other words they have come to depend on
the sense of anonimity it gives them. Or privacy in
certain situations. These same countries adopted the
veil for their womenfolk. The reason given is that they
cannot trust the men not to control themselves when
they see a pretty face.
The concept that men have no control over their sexual
desires is used for many reasons. One reason being
that they have used that excuse for a few thousand
years to get away with many crimes against women. I
used to wonder why the women of these countries let it
go on for so long. Since I know that if women really
did want to do away with the veil they could. So lets
look at some of the reasons why women in this
enlightened age would want to continue such an archaic
habit.
1. A good case of the uglies is hidden behind the veil.
In other words if you are homely, have birth marks or
injuries to the face they are hidden by the veil. And
that hiding goes on right up to the wedding night. Yes.
This is a wonderful way to get all of your daughters
married off. One that the western world would envy if
it really thought about it. It is a wonderful thing to
be able to fall in love and marry the man you chose or
the woman you chose. But we marry when we are too young
to have any sense or knowledge of what makes a good
spouse. Our hormones rage and we end up married to real
creeps from a lifelong marriage point of view. The veil
of course doesn’t allow these men to choose a wife. The
mother or father must do the choosing. And after 15 to
20 years of marriage they both know what its all about.
Its a business arrangement. Its more about creating a
line of your own than anything else. Looks are not
important in a country that needs a lot of children to
support you in your old age. And every woman gets a
chance to marry. That is a little better in some ways
than the western method of leaving your childrens
future to a pack of raging hormones or not. Of watching
a daughter that has many wonderful qualities live a
life of lonelyness because she was not a beauty. There
is also the other side of the coin if your are a raving
beauty. In countries were the rich rule a man may see a
beautiful girl in a poor mans home and just take her
from her parents to live a life of shame and
loneliness. Even today in some Eastern countries these
girls are not always safe. So as long as the laws
favour the men in those lands women need the veil.
The fan was a device that was used in the orient to
give privacy to the face. This was used very effectivly
to express many emotions that one might not really be
feeling but the situation demanded that the opposite be
expressed. This could be done by the judicious use of
the fan. Anger was expressed by rapid waving in front
of the face. Indifference by languid movements. Etc.
Another wonderful method of privacy was achieved in
Japan by the use of huge outsize straw hats for women
that used a veil or clothe over it of small or large
dimensions. At times it could cover the large hat and
the entire body of the woman. It could either be sheer
fabric or heavy fabric depending on the amount of
privacy desired or protection.
Another object used to give some form of privacy for
women was the parasol. Again this came from the East. I
have the feeling that the parasol developed from the
large straw hat the field workers used. In time it was
put onto a stick and carried over the head. It would
then have evolved to the use of colorful cottons and
silks and brocades for the parasol instead of straw.
And some clever person invented the folding parasol for
which the world should be forever grateful. As this
became the umbrella of the western world that has kept
many a head dry in the rainy season. Which brings us to
the concept of ;
PROTECTION
b. From the head to the toe every country has created
its own method of utilising different materials for
protection from various dangers. These dangers can
range from; weather to insects to unwanted attention.
The use of clothing alone as protection from the
elements are:
The Eskimo’s heavy parka which is unique, his
Mukluks,(shoes). The West Coast Indians bark cloth
clothing and hats for the rain. The woven straw hats of
the oriant for the rain as well as their umbrella’s and
their woven fine straw capes. The heavy woven alpaca
blanket capes of the Andes and Chilian people. The
straw capes of the Maori’s. The padded cotten of the
Northern Chinese and the Japenese. The padded wool of
the Himalaya’s. And the clothing of the Russian steppes
for the cold. The fine silks of china for heat. The
fine woven cotton of the Nile valley for the heat.
These are only some of the many methods that these
countries have invented over time as an answer to
protection for the body from the elements. Of course
the best protection was shelter. To be indoors and away
from cold, wind, heat, bugs, and animals. It was the
poor who had to be out in all weather that devised the
protective skins and clothes we needed. And as a result
often this form of clothing separates the classes. The
worker from the idle rich.
INDIVIDUALITY
C. According to the scientists we are an evolved
creature just like any animal on the face of this
earth. If that is so then we are a very strange animal
indeed. And not just because we have become a tool
using animal. We are unique in another way also. We are
in a way a herd animal. But different from all other
herds in that we normally don’t want to look like any
one else in the herd! Yes! All other animals look like
each other in build, coloring and hide(clothing) and
behaviour. Not us! We want to be different from all our
kind. We want to stand out from the herd so to speak.
That is not normal behaviour for herd animals, or any
other kind of animal on this planet.
The big question is why do we want to look different
from every one else? Maybe we don’t really, what we
really want is to be unique from every one else.
Different. Special. And so we keep on designing new
styles, new idea’s in clothing.
There may have been a time when we were lost in the
crowd and everyone looked alike. We can’t find our
loved ones that way. We can’t find our children, our
parents. You see people tie ribbons or odd assortments
of clothing to the antenae of their cars so they can
find them in a parking lot. It is wonderful how we are
creatures of patterning behaviour. The situations may
be different but the reason behind it is the same. The
need to find something or someone in a crowd.
INTIMIDATION.
d. We don’t usually think of clothing as a form of
intimidation. Or the cause of intimidation. And yet
when we think of those we fear they can usually be
distinguished by their clothing.
Uniforms are a form of intimidation, so is color. We
use black, red, green and white as fear tactics. Fear
by association is the idea behind it. Although I have
never heard of anyone using pink as an intimidation
color. There may be a good reason for that. It seems
that the color pink can make men weak after a few
minutes. But if they see it for two long then the
weakness goes away. Color is now being used as a
control medium in dealing with the mentaly sick.
EGOTISTICAL
e. Like the Birds of Paradise, men love to dress up.
The male of the species has always been the one to wear
the bright colors and dazzling plummage. And that went
for the human male also until the most recent ages.
This is probably the longest period in history for men
to be so drab in ‘plummage’. The most dazzling episode
of fashionable plummage for the western world was
probably the time of Henry VIII.
For the rest of the world I would have to say the
Indian people knew how to adorn the male. East India
that is. And a very close second was the Arab male. The
next would be the Oriental male with his wonderful
silks and embroideries. We live in a very drab world
these days. Maybe that is why we need Hollywood ; to
give us the color and oppulance of those lost days. And
the Movie business of India is probably doing well
because of the need to see mankind in color and style
again.
ARTISTIC EXPRESSION
f. For some people it just isn’t enough to WEAR the
clothes. They must create the clothes. Art comes in
many forms. To wrap fabric around a living form and
adorn it is a form of Art as real as any painting or
sculpturing. To adorn with fabric and color and pattern
the human body, is an ongoing love affair with life.
Every country in the world at one time or another has
had its fashion guru’s. It’s style setters. Even the
great Ghengis Khan wore clothes that were adorned with
stitches by his womenfolk. And I am sure that the robes
worn by the isolated priests of Tibet were carefully
planned and designed.
SELF IMPORTANCE
g. Whether we came from apes or were the creation of
gods the results are the same. High man on the Totem
Pole wants you to know who he is. He wants you to be
able to pick him out in a crowd immediatly as the big
cheese. How does he do this? Well, he found many ways.
One was in what he got to wear. Special clothing that
no one else could use. Or special furniture.
Where would be the first place you make unique? The
head of course! It rises above. And if we put something
special, like a crown on top of it, it rises even
higher. Where everyone can see it. Special headgear has
always been the symbol of kings.
Capes were another method of setting these men apart.
They hid things as well as looking dashing. Colors,
materials, jewels. They all came to adorn the high and
mighty and set them apart. Certain colors (purple) came
to be associated only with kingship. Furs (Ermine) also
were made to be worn only by the higher caste in some
countries.
It was not only kings and such that wanted to set
themselves apart from the common man. Anyone with a bit
of authority or position, at one time or another has
desired to set themselves apart from their fellow man.
When the place you live(castle) or the place you work
doesn’t make a big enough impression then we have found
a way to let our clothes say it for us or something we
wear on our clothes.
In this day and age when costumes are frownd upon men
have found another way to fulfill this need or fancy.
The club or organization that you belong to will let
you dress up in fancy clothes at their secret meetings.
And the more elaborate and colorful the happier you
are.