The Social Meanings of Hats and T-shirts

[RedShoesGirl]

an interesting article from Diana Crane's study of why people dress the way they do.

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/117987.html

 

[RedPop4]

Nice piece.:eusa_clap

 

[Feraud]

Thank you for posting that very interesting article. It is a good read.
I appreciated the description of the uses of hats throughout social classes of a particular era. The author noted the "spread downward" of a top hat or bowler and it reminded me of how we use the accoutrements of our society to indicate or disguise ourselves. It shows how some things never change.

The following quote made me smile.

In contemporary societies, the sartorial equivalent of the hat is the T-shirt, which expresses social identity in many different ways, ranging from identity politics to lifestyle.

Who'da thunk these lovely fedoras would be replaced by t-shirts.

I can only imagine what members of The T-Shirt Lounge will be discussing 50-60 years from now.

 

[Matt Deckard]

And the T-shirt replaces the hat... unless you still like to button up a shirt with a collar.

The T-shirt has been used to convey both rebellion and conformity, depending upon the context and the types of messages that may be inscribed on the front or back. Unlike the blue jean, the T-shirt decorated with lettering or a design appeared in the 1940s (Nelton 1991) and now epitomizes postmodern media culture. Printing on shirts as a means of identifying the wearer with an organization, such as a sports team, appeared in the middle of the nineteenth century and was being used by universities in the 1930s (Giovannini 1984: 16-17). The use of a specific type of clothing—the T-shirt—to communicate other types of information began in the late 1940s, when faces and political slogans appeared on T-shirts and, in the 1960s, with commercial logos and other designs. Technical developments in the 1950s and 1960s, such as plastic inks, plastic transfers, and spray paint, led to the use of colored designs and increased the possibilities of the T-shirt as a means of communication. Approximately one billion T-shirts are purchased annually in the United States (McGraw 1996).

The T-shirt performs a function formerly associated with the hat, that of identifying an individual's social location instantly. Unlike the hat in the nineteenth century, which signaled (or concealed) social class status, the T-shirt speaks to issues related to ideology, difference, and myth: politics, race, gender, and leisure. The variety of slogans and logos that appear on T-shirts is enormous. Much of the time, people consent to being coopted for "unpaid advertising" for global corporations selling clothes, music, sports, and entertainment in exchange for the social cachet of being associated with certain products (McGraw 1996). Some of the time, people use T-shirts to indicate their support for social and political causes, groups, or organizations to which they have made a commitment. Occasionally, the T-shirt becomes a medium for grass-roots resistance. Bootlegged T-shirts representing characters on the television show The Simpsons appeared in response to T-shirts marketed by the network that produced the show (Parisi 1993). The bootlegged T-shirts represented the Simpson family as African Americans. Bart Simpson was shown as Rastabart, with dreadlocks and a red, green, and gold headband, as Rasta-dude Bart Marley, and as Black Bart, paired with Nelson Mandela. Using clothing behavior as a means of making a statement, the T-shirts appeared to be intended as an affirmation of African Americans as an ethnic group and as a commentary on the narrow range of roles for black characters in the show. Victims of gender-related violence, such as rape, incest, battering, and sexual harassment, have used T-shirts as venues for statements about their experiences that are exhibited in clotheslines in public plazas (Ostrowski 1996). By contrast, some young men use T-shirts to express hostile, aggressive, or obscene sentiments denigrating women or to display pictures of guns and pistols (Cose 1993; Time 1992). Teens of both sexes use them as a means of expressing their cynicism about the dominant culture, particularly global advertising (Sepulchre 1994b).

Good find and an interesting read.

I still prefer the tie, though when I get the chance I'll get a T-shirt screen printed with a Top Hat to show my message.

 

[Serial Hero]

Interesting read.

From the title I thought you were going to discus the social meaning of wearing a hat with a t-shirt. I guess that’s for another thread.

 

[Boroparkpyro]

From the title I thought you were going to discus the social meaning of wearing a hat with a t-shirt. I guess that’s for another thread.

Been there, done that... [you fill in the rest] ;-)

 

[Dinerman]

Been there, done that... [you fill in the rest] ;-)

you bought the t-shirt did ya?:eusa_doh:

 

[Serial Hero]

Maybe MK can start selling "Fedora Lounge" t-shirts

 

[nulty]

I'll think twice next time I go shopping with the wife in the I'm with Stupid T-shirt...The next time I wear that will be with my boss at some company function....

Interesting view though.......It makes me wonder why we have the Need to be instantly recognized or identified by symbols or words spatted on a shirt...

 

[Roger]

Iron ons

Now, I really feel dated. Remember in the 1970's when there were iron-ons for t-shirts?lol You'd take them home and place an iron on top of it and voila you had a shirt with the picture you wanted. Then after a couple washings and drying it would begin to peel and crack.

 

[Strider]

I dress as I see fit, as I'm sure you do, too.