Humanity
Fashion
quick ideas about fashion. Fashion as adornment. Fashion and ethics. Provocative fashion. How to recognize good fashion design? Uniforms. Fashion and women.
EspañolA. Fashion and its ends
1. What is fashion?
Fashion expresses what is current, modern, what is in vogue. This applies in many areas but above all in clothing, which is the aspect we consider here.
2. Does any fashion represent progress?
The modern is not progress simply by virtue of being new. It will be progress if it introduces a real improvement. Thus a garment will be good if it favors the ends it must fulfill.
3. What is the purpose of clothing?
Three great ends are appreciated:
- A practical end. For example, comfort, warmth in cold climates, protection for work in more or less harsh environments, etc.
- An end of public morality, to respect the privacy of others and not provoke evil desires in their hearts. This is an ethical aspect of fashion. It is a matter of clothing being in accordance with human dignity.
- An ornamental or decorative end that improves that dignity.
4. How to recognize good fashion design?
A quality design will take into account the three previous ends. We can add some details:
- The success of a fashion is greatly influenced by the style of the person wearing it, but a good design will suit anyone, even a person who is not very attractive.
- A good designer does not need to resort to sex to capture attention. If the first thing one notices about a fashion is sex, we are dealing with a design poor in ideas and originality.
- A good fashion design does not attract much attention. It is not shocking. What is difficult and at the same time brilliant in a designer is to make something discreet at the same time admired.
5. What clothes to choose?
Many factors are involved. For example, price, quality, fashion, color combinations, personal tastes, etc. It is advisable to make sure that the chosen clothing is in accordance with the three ends:
- Regarding the practical end, one can ask: will this clothing be useful to me? What do I need it for? The answer may be something like: I want it to keep me warm, I want it to be comfortable, I want it for outings...
- From the ethical point of view, it will be worthwhile to check whether it is clothing for a woman or a female; for a man or a male. Is that clothing in accordance with human dignity? Does it elevate human thoughts, or lower them?
- As an ornament, one will check whether the clothing suits them, whether it improves their appearance, etc. What does this garment highlight?
B. Fashion as adornment
1. How to improve the ornamental end?
The main thing about a person is their soul. Thus bodily adornment improves human dignity if it brings out spiritual qualities. For example, fashions can direct attention toward different areas of the body, and the design will be more appropriate if it orients gazes toward what is most noble, such as the head, the eyes, the face — "mirror of the soul." At the same time it is fitting to moderate adornment, lest it conceal the person.
2. Is it not more sincere and natural to dress any way one likes?
Perhaps because of this idea, in some circles maximum care is taken to offer a careless image. There is no greater sincerity in this. It is simply another fashion; a careless or "déshabillé" fashion.
3. And if one is coarse and rude?
Charity, social life, and good upbringing invite us to master these tendencies in fashion and in life. True sincerity recognizes defects as defects and tries to correct them. Letting oneself be carried along by them is not sincerity but weakness.
Fashion and morality
1. Why is it necessary to attend to the end of public morality?
It is well known that the sight of the secondary aspects of sexuality provokes an attraction in persons. With original sin, this inclination has become disordered and can lead to subhuman conduct and thoughts, such as wanting to use sex with anyone. Hence one purpose of clothing is to cover one's own sexual aspects in order to respect the heart of others.
2. Can one not dress as one pleases?
Of course each one will dress as they wish, but this does not mean that they dress correctly. Good fashion is that which improves the three ends mentioned. (See the topic freedom.)
3. Is it advisable to avoid skimpy or very tight clothing?
Exactly. That type of dress is a temptation and a lack of respect toward one's neighbor. It also damages one's own dignity, since a person who dresses that way offers an image of promoting their sex, instead of highlighting their talent, their intelligence, or their beauty.
4. Is it a matter of covering oneself entirely?
Let us not exaggerate. It is a matter of dressing correctly, avoiding provocative fashions.
5. Is it sinful to dress in a provocative way?
This way of dressing is a sin of scandal because it induces others to sin. It is an incitement to the use of sex that provokes in others impure thoughts or desires. Evil thoughts because one must not use sex with anyone. The catechism speaks about scandal in n.2286, and recommends modesty in n.2523.
C. Provocative fashion
1. What is provocative fashion?
In general, provocative fashion refers to the style of fashion that seeks to obtain a strong reaction in others. Normally with this fashion one aims to achieve an impact of sexual attraction. At other times one simply wishes to draw attention. In the latter case, one usually speaks of extravagant fashion, while the expression provocative fashion is reserved rather for fashion that attempts to activate the sexual instinct.
2. What disadvantages does provocative fashion have?
With this fashion, attention and attraction are obtained but with several disadvantages:
- Provocative fashion incites dishonest thoughts — and even actions.
- It attracts mainly the coarser people, and produces rejection in persons of better upbringing.
- This fashion implies a loss of dignity.
3. Loss of dignity?
Provocative fashion introduces this loss, since it treats human beings undignifiedly.
- The person who uses this fashion offers an image of themselves in which the most animal part is highlighted.
- This same person seems to have no other qualities, because what they notably present is their physique.
- They consider the other sex as animals, and offer them the satisfaction of instincts. This image of human beings is quite unworthy.
4. What image does someone who shows much of their body give?
About someone who excessively shows their body it is easy to conclude some of these ideas:
- That person is proud of their body and therefore shows it. They are centered on the bodily and neglect the spiritual, the interior.
- That person has little personality and lets themselves be carried along by the fashion of the moment.
- They appear to have a disposition to use sex easily and with anyone. They show little appreciation and respect for themselves and their privacy.
- They offer their body to whoever wishes to look at it. And perhaps to whoever wishes to use it. Apparently that body is worth little. It has already been seen a great deal, and perhaps used a great deal.
- It might be thought that that person is worth as little as their body. But this consequence is not true, since any human being possesses great dignity. (For this reason it is unworthy to present one's body in any way.)
- It might also be thought that that person is desperately looking for a boyfriend or girlfriend.
5. Does provocative fashion make it easier to attract partners?
Such fashion attracts attention, but it causes difficulties:
- It directs attention to the area of the body that is shown, and diverts it from the person. One may even forget the face and remember only what was shown. The woman and the affection toward her disappear.
- The woman offers a vulgar image of herself, which will attract coarse and vulgar men.
- The type of partner that is attracted usually does not want to marry, but seeks sex, and for this reason is attracted when sex is offered. A stable relationship is not achieved.
6. How to know if a fashion is provocative?
Normally this is known intuitively. But some practical ideas can also be given to get it right:
- Consider whether with that fashion the attention of oneself and others remains anchored on the body or on the person.
- Do not show what you do not wish to give. Do not show what must not be taken; since the human being tends to touch what they see. Salespeople know this very well: they set up shop windows so that people see their products and feel the desire to buy them. In other words: do not put on display what is not on offer.
7. Does a girl who dresses provocatively only communicate sex?
A young woman may dress in a provocative way for reasons unrelated to sex. Perhaps she simply wants to please, to be appreciated, or to follow a fashion. However, that way of dressing — skimpy and tight clothing — speaks, communicates to others an invitation to sex. And for this reason, those who desire sex dress this way. The language of fashion must not be forgotten.
D. Fashion and language
1. What does fashion have to do with language?
Fashion is related to a type of language called body language.
2. What is body language?
In addition to words, gestures also convey thoughts and feelings. Body language is the way of communicating through gestures and bodily expressions.
3. Examples of body language?
- A face of hatred communicates that thought to others as easily as words.
- Hands inviting one to advance or stop are understood better and faster than words.
- A smile is a good complement to encouraging words.
4. Is body language always clear?
Body language is not always clear. Sometimes it can be misunderstood, since the same gesture can have several meanings.
5. Examples of the body language of fashion?
The way of dressing can communicate several things to others:
- It informs about social position or available economic resources. This is the case for someone who wears expensive clothes. (Logically, dissimulation is possible.)
- It reveals some habits or qualities. For example, someone who wears dirty or torn clothes gives the impression of being careless.
- It informs about sexual customs or dispositions, due to the fact that fashion covers the body more or less. For example, the way of dressing of a prostitute is provocative, and thus communicates her desires. But provocative fashion has already been discussed.
- Uniforms provide quite clear information.
E. Uniforms
1. Does a garment have only those three ends?
In addition to the practical, moral, and ornamental ends, fashion has other ends that can normally be grouped under one of the previous ones. For example, uniforms are a special type of clothing with characteristic ends.
2. What additional ends do uniforms have?
In addition to the ends proper to any garment, uniforms may aim to:
- Unite the members of a group, distinguishing them from others. For example, sports or military clothing.
- Signal a personal disposition of public service. For example, employees of large stores usually dress in a particular way so that customers can find them more easily.
- Favor an attitude in others. For example, seeing a police officer's uniform invites one not to commit crimes; seeing the white uniform of a nurse or doctor helps one to trust them with health care; seeing the habit of a nun recalls God, etc.
F. Letters received
1.
A boy was speaking with his mother: — Mom, why are those girls wearing just their underwear? — They're not underwear. They're short skirts and shorts. — Mom, why are they wearing shorts so short they look like underwear? — I don't know, son, I don't know. — Will you also go like that? — No, no. — Is it indecent? — That's what it seems to me. — Then why do they put on those clothes? Are they indecent? — Oh, son! Maybe they think that way they'll please the boys. — Well to me they look vulgar. — It's because you're a good boy, a real man. — And does Dad also disapprove of those very short clothes? — Of course, son. — How nice, Mom.
2.
Summary of a mail that Martha sends from Mexico: The way of dressing reflects part of one's interior. The way of speaking, of dressing, of moving, has to do with what we carry inside. If women know how to guard their soul and their body, they will not be just one more of the crowd: they will be women who know how to distinguish themselves by their elegance, by being feminine.
We are different from men. The woman must know the natural difference in man's perception, different from a woman's perception. She must know very well the difference between being used (woman-object: "how hot you are") and being loved ("how beautiful you are").
There are fashions that reveal too much of the body. A dress that emphasizes sex contributes to concealing the value of the person and to highlighting them as an object of pleasure. The challenge is to go against the current by taking care of modesty.
Modesty is the natural inclination to cover the body to protect it from morbid gazes. It makes us more dignified, more mistresses of ourselves. The lack of modesty consists in wearing tight clothing, short skirts, using necklines that reveal more than their share; sometimes the gaze goes to the waist — to the navel — instead of going to the eyes, and that does not make us happy.
The modest woman will come to be more her own mistress. Modesty is the inclination to keep hidden what must not be shown, since it is not available to all. Modesty protects privacy.