For each questions, write around two (max three) paragraphs. Make sure you support your ideas with the readings assigned and your own research on these topics.
For the external factors of individuals wearing certain styles of dress, I think it’s basically the very common three aspects: politics, economy, and culture. For instance, under the ruling of a party during a certain time, people were asked to wear particular clothes to show their identity as part of the party. And the clothes people wear show their social status, occupations, and gender. These factors require people to wear particular clothes, and people have very little choice, mostly influenced by political factors and economic factors. For the cultural aspect, religions could be a good example of how it influences people to wear. External factors push people to choose what they should wear and give them little voice in what they want to wear under the inherent hierachy.
In the 19th century, women were strictly restricted in what they could wear. Clothing worked as an efficient tool to distinguish females from the central power of the society. Women in the past centuries have less rights to choose what they can wear than men. They wear long and heavy dresses which limit their movements, and in another way, these beautiful dresses actually show the limitations on them. Trousers were always for men, and when women tried to wear trousers in the early 20th century, they were misinterpreted and opposed, by men and other women.
A lot of the examples about WT focus on how humans interact with other people. The social distance and the self-space. One interesting point about this tech is that before we start to talk and people start to understand who we are/what kind of people we are, the garments we wear introduce ourselves first. Maybe if you are a musician, you wear the instrument garment and your instrument is integrated with your body in this way. People can easily sense the fact that you are a musician when you play music with this garment. Or if you enjoy cool styles and you’re not good at socializing, and you’re not a person who’s easy to get along with, you can wear the spider clothes. Your WT garments inform people a lot before you even say a word. Traditional clothes may not include as much information.
Gender could be blurred with WT in the future. A lot of features in the article have connections with animals, weird shapes, and “immaterial”. This kind of expression may guide people to focus on the personalities of people, but not just on their genders. Traditional uniforms in schools made us know that girls are very different from boys, and we were taught that we need to be careful about the relationship with the opposite sex, especially for girls. WT might offer a way for both sexes to communicate freely and comfortably in a way they both feel respected.