Gown

A Surreal Moment My heart was pounding and the ballroom was silent as I stood in the top two on the Miss Teen USA stage. All of my hard work and dedication had paid off in that moment. As I stood there hand in hand with Miss California Teen, I felt as if I had been there before. I had dreamed about this moment, but never expected it to really happen. Strangely, I had a sense of peace – I knew something big was about to occur, and that my life was about to change. As the crown was placed on…

In Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, there are drastic changes that have occurred in modern society due to the government’s plan to save resources during a war. This presented a surreal flip to society which defined how citizens will live in order to succeed in the war. Offred, the narrator of this novel, constantly used or refused to use certain words in order to have control over the power that ran in the society and escape the clutches of it in her thoughts. This can be found through…

early 1940s. In this advertisement the woman is shown holding Chesterfield cigarettes while wearing a graduation cap and gown. During this period, smoking a cigarette was considered to be “cool and socially acceptable”, but it was also a time where graduating was viewed to be a proud badge of coming into adulthood. This attractive, young women wearing the graduation cap and gown lead the audience to believe that the younger generation of people are smoking and leads the audience to trust the…

Every girl dreams of a beautiful, white wedding gown to celebrate their marriage. The original white wedding gown symbolizes the virginity and purity of a woman. During the time period of Hamlet, a woman was called a "virgin” of she had not engaged in sexual intercourse. Women were expected to remain virgins until they were married, or for their entire lives if they were not married. Being a virgin and remaining pure to oneself determined their concept of honor. The violation of a woman’s…

American Frontier: The Medicine Ways Medicine has not always been as advanced as it is today, simpler times also meant simpler medicine. During the late 1700’s, when the land was still not crowded, there was not a great amount of doctors in the world. Many well- known doctors came to be recognized during this time. The amount of people seemed to grow, and with this so did the amount of new illnesses. When it came to medicine, the shots and the antibiotics were not an option, so the majority of…

“Fashion designers played with fabric colors, textures and patterns to create totally new styles of dress.” (Samantha Critchell) Various designers such as Coco Channel were coming up with new trends for women to wear. “Formal gowns, worn mostly for evening events, were their most elaborate outfits.” (Tom Pendergast) Women loved the feeling the elegant dresses gave them when they wore them out, it gave them a sense of wealth and class. “The most fashionable shorter hemlines were…

"We live not according to reason but according to fashion", said by Seneca. During the Middle Ages, fashion was a big factor that determined the rank of a person. Luxurious clothing meant a person was wealthy, whereas rags and simpler clothing proved a person had little money. Feudalism ranked people according to class during the Medieval Ages, from peasants to kings and queens. Peasant clothing greatly differed from royalty, and the royalty wanted nothing to do with peasants.…

New Girl Isn’t So “New” Afterall When hearing about a TV sitcom titled New Girl, one would anticipate a display of humorous female-centric roles. After all, the word “Girl” is in the title, and therefore it would be expected that the strongest story arcs and humor would come from the “Girl” herself. The leading role played by Zooey Deschanel, Jess, is mostly described by audiences as “adorkable” because she is dorky and weird, but cute at the same time. In relation to this idea that women can’t…

Introduction Mary Sibande was born in Mpumalanga in 1982, and currently lives and works in the city of Johannesburg. She is a fine arts graduate from the University of Johannesburg and received her B-Tech degree in fine art in 2009 . Gaining inspiration from South African Colonial and apartheid history Sibnade creates unique mixed media life size installations (13). She has a love for fashion and originally wanted to pursue a career in fashion design, which is evident I her elaborate costume…

The Fashion Styles of Men and Women “Some people think luxury is the opposite of poverty. It is not. It is the opposite of vulgarity”- Coco Chanel. The Great Depression was a terrible time for all Americans. The stock market crashed, people lost their jobs and no one had money. Some may think due to no jobs or money that American citizens could not dress like they used to in the twenties. That was a lie. American men and women looked just as stylish in the thirties as in the twenties, just…