Sartorial Consumption In The British Colonies Essays Examples

Clothing was very important in British New England because clothing has historically been imbued with immense socio-cultural meaning that often signifies one’s class affiliation as well as social standing. Indeed, clothes are worn in order to be assessed and analyzed by a gazing public. Clothing in Renaissance England was critical without the epochal economy, as clothing was immensely valued and was utilized as a form of currency during this time period. Clothing was not only imbued with class notions but also indicated information about the wearer’s gender, age, and rank within colonial American society. Sartorial patterns were thus imbued with notions about societal privilege as well as markers of subaltern status, thereby figuring prominently in the reification of social hierarchies within colonial America. Clothing patterns were visual articulations of one’s social and political status as free or enslaved. Indeed, clothing played a formative role in distinguishing between indigenous and white heteronormativity during early America. Indeed, beyond signifying identity, sartorial patterns were significant for their utility as they proffered not only warmth but also shield from certain weather. The class implications of sartorial patterns had a trenchant effect and consequences in terms of demarking one’s class rank and gender identity.
Cultural cross dressing still might be considered threatening today because of the role that clothing plays in articulating ideas about hegemonic cultural ideals and identity demarcation. Despite the fact that American society has progressed, it is nonetheless unequivocal that the hegemonic ruling class is still threatened by subaltern cultures and cultural forms that threaten to subvert the heteronormative paradigm. Indeed, the disappearance of indigenous languages is one clue that subaltern cultures and cultural forms continue to pose grave threats to the persistence of the hegemonic cultural forms. Indeed, sartorial consumption plays a critical role in these indicators. Thus, embracing the hegemonic clothing forms in order to denote a certain identity is imperative in the face of a culturally pluralistic society n which subaltern cultures and identities are proliferating at an exponential rate.