Medium Specificity

Artist Statement:

For my project, the medium of art I chose to focus on was clothing.  I like the idea of clothing being an art choice, because it is literally a choice you have to make every day.  And whether or not you are someone who chooses to follow fashion or someone who throws on a pair of jeans and an old graphic tee from middle school, you are still making an artistic choice every day (unless you are a nudist, but I will make them a free exception from this rule).  Even those who want to not follow fashion make a statement about themselves and their views by not following fashion.  That is what I wanted to focus on: clothing makes statements, no matter what you wear.
Our reading talked about a before and after picture of models, and it talked about to make the model beautiful.  Taking this in mind, I wanted to see what it would be like if there was only one shot to read a person.  Not a fixed up photo and not comparing one day to the next, but if you were to walk down a hallway and see someone for a few seconds one time, what would you think about them?  The first thing you are going to notice about a person is what they are wearing, because that is literally the first thing you see.  Before you talk to them, before you get to know them, and maybe before they even notice you.
For the actual project I took pictures of six different outfits all on the same model and in the same place but without his face in the picture.  Then I took these photos around to a bunch of different people and asked them to give each outfit a personality.  They had to say who they thought the person wearing each outfit would be without any hints other than the outfit itself.  The words I chose to attach to the pictures were the most common words used.
I was reminded of the movie The Fantastic Mr. Fox while doing this project, because that movie is so heavy on details for the characters.  Each outfit or accessory choice helps to say something about the characters. If they did not have such elaborate designs for each character, I am not sure each individual personality would have as much impact in the overall film.
It as interesting to see how even without a face or any movement or speaking people could very quickly and clearly come up with an idea of who this person might be.  It helped to prove my point that no matter how much or how little you try to show that you may not care about your choice in fashion, it is still a choice in fashion. And it is still a choice that shows things about who you appear to be.