Arts
A Woman of Many Firsts: Janis Ian
Book Review: Braveheart
by Pippin
| Braveheart:
Men in Skirts by Andrew Bolton V&A Publications, 2003 |
Bravehearts
is, first and foremost, a history of men's fashion as it relates to sexism.
While writer and curator Andrew Bolton would be unlikely to characterize
the work this way, a constant thread in the
essays accompanying the hundreds of truly beautiful photographs is that
men in skirts are still men and still masculine. According to Bolton,
they should not be penalized by accusations of femininity for the sartorial
choice of wearing a non-bifurcated article of clothing to
cover their legs.
As Bolton notes in the introduction, "We
are not concerned with drag, transvestism or cross-dressing. This is because
these are strategies primarily used for the exploration of camp and feminine
identities … this book is primarily concerned with the construction
of masculine identities." It is unfortunate that Bolton's work insists
on emphasizing (over and over again) that men in skirts are still masculine,
strong, and by implication, heterosexual. The text clearly is reinforcing
a solidly entrenched gender binary. Bolton negates the power of the images
to challenge traditional gender roles and identities, and does not attempt
to break down barriers between men and women that throw fashion roadblocks
into the path of queer liberation.
That said, the book is a fascinating history
of men's fashion as long as one reads carefully for the sub-text and draws
one's own conclusions. The images, from a concurrent exhibit at London's
Victoria and Albert Museum and New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art,
are startling and beautiful.
The book is divided into five sections
– Men and Trouser Tyranny, Skirts in History, Exoticism, The Kilt,
and Subcultural Style. Each section of the book, with the exception of
the first (which focuses on the political and health movements to free
up the space between men's legs), takes the reader on an evolutionary
journey through history from the Egyptian high kingdoms up to the couture
designers of today, including Versace, Gaultier, and Westwood.
The book is clearly written for a
largely white, western audience, as shown by the odd breakdown of chapters.
Skirts in History focuses exclusively on western European fashion; Exoticism
focuses on the history of fashion in Africa and Asia.
Bolton does note that the revival of the
kilt by George IV in the early nineteenth century was a form of self-exoticisation,
but even in this chapter it is made clear that the nineteenth-century
popularity of the kilt was largely about the very rich and very powerful
taking on the attributes of those whom they had subdued in war and politics
– in this case the Highland clans of Scotland.
It is not until the very final pages that
Bolton acknowledges the important role that queer men have played in the
history of men's
fashion and in particular, the role of the skirt. In his essay on Subcultural
Style Bolton discusses the impact of glam rockers like David Bowie and
the consequent development of the punk scene, the New Romantics, and later,
grunge. But even in noting the impact of such figures as the bisexual
Bowie and Culture Club leader Boy George, Bolton retains the need to reassure
his readers that these seminal figures were masculine men and not trying
to be seen as women or using fashion to transgress gender roles.
Bolton quotes Bowie on the controversy
surrounding his appearance in a pre-Raphaelite-style dress on the cover
of his 1971 album, The Man Who Sold The World. "You must understand,"
Bowie is reported as saying, "that it's not a woman's dress. It's
a man's dress. The important fact is that I don't have to drag up …
I don't wear dresses all the time, either. I change every day. I'm not
outrageous. I'm David Bowie."
Even Boy George, one of the heroes of 1980s
popular queer liberation, has his political impact somewhat lessened when
Bolton says of him, "For all his sartorial dilettantism, Boy George,
as his name suggests, was usually quick to distance himself from the act
of drag or transvestism." He goes on to quote the pop star, "I
dress in a similar way to a priest or an archbishop. I wear robes, not
dresses, and to be a transvestite, you must wear women's clothes. I don't."
He added, "I'm not fighting an oppressed need to be a woman. I'm
proud to be a man."
While one must certainly take Boy George
at his word, it is distressing that so much stunning creativity need be
limited by his political (and one might think, economic) need to ensure
that his sartorial transgression is limited to appearances and does not
challenge the inherent sexism that goes along with our modern culture's
need to keep genders strictly regulated, whether you are wearing a skirt
or not.
Pippin is a radical faerie who enjoys dressing up and isn't afraid
to
mix up her pronouns. He can be reached at pippin@sover.net.