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In
The fashionsystem
(trans. 1985)
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,Roland Barthes examined signifiers in dress andclothing. He helped toestablish a coding system of perceptions of fashion and ways of categorising clothing. He also analysed these to provide alternate meanings and purpose.This isinvestigated in more detail later within this section.The knitted loop can hold a great deal of meaning and significance to individuals, andvisually is something that a vast majority of the Western population can relate to in someway or form as it is probable that most people own, or have possessed a knitted garment oraccessory at some stage in their life. These clothing items include the most basic form of everyday wear, such as knitted socks or booties as a baby, a scarf or shawl, underwear,possibly a jumper or cardigan that was knitted by a family member or passed down throughthe generations. In present day fashion, many garments that we purchase are created fromeither knitted fabrications or employ the knitted fully-fashioning technique.
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Identifying embedded perceptions is difficult, but many authors have observed that the term
perception
can be defined as a process of selecting and interpreting information. In a senseitallows humans to recognise things or helps provide a meaningful interpretation of theworld. Evans writes (2003, p. 12), that history is written about from the perspective of thepresent. She quotes Michael Foucault, “This is ‘genealogy’-history written in the light of current concerns”. Her discussion includes an understanding of objects as containing tracesof emotion and personal understanding.By examining and dissecting sign systems, Barthes’ investigation demonstrates how wemake sense of images and text in fashion. Barthes’ system focuses on the use of rhetoricalstatements used to describe fashion (and in some instances clothing), and by analysing thesignifiers and the signified a ‘pseudo-real’ survey can be made. As an example of Barthes’
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Author Kawamura (2005, p. 46) comments that the title of Barthes’ book
The fashion system
is somewhatmisleading in that rather than talking about fashion, he is in fact discussing clothing and this text teaches us howto wear garments and what to wear in specific social and cultural contexts. She continues to suggest that there areestablished rules about what Western clothing must look like, and through socialisation we have learnt that a shirtshould have two sleeves, and pair of trousers should have two legs.
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Due to the hectic lifestyles that many people lead particularly in the Western world, knitted garments are oftenan essential part of the daily wardrobe as they can be worn to provide comfort, ergonomics and wearability.
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