Alex Xiaojun Tian: Apple in Black and Banana in Grey

From the beautiful cloth which is quietly suggestive to the bold expressions of sexuality, cloth is a message carrier for both for desiring and being desired. Fashion as a symbolic system, allows scholars around the world to explore its expression of sexuality. Mentioned by Valerie Steele, human sexuality is never just a matter of doing what comes naturally. It has always been a psychological construction where both fantasy and fashion play important roles. Moreover, adornments that fall on human skin can arouse sexual desires. With such close relation, all fashion clothing hold potential to allow human to feel erotically charged. Hence, it is impossible to deny that fashion was able to stimulate eroticism dominantly via the five main senses – sight, touch, smell, hearing and taste.

Erotic fashion belongs to a world filled with amusement. It almost seems bizarre when a pair of shoes can sexually excite someone. Through discoveries of unwrapping, the underlying meanings can surprise. Although such provocative fashion only appears on a distinct group of minorities, it has been already translated on the catwalk runways for decades. It gives individuals a character to play in, like costumes.

Nakedness is uninteresting, not sexy, while clothing adds a mystery to the body that makes it all the more provocative. Clothing and adornment come to a play in articulating sexual desires, orientation and finally, identities. Perhaps it was due to emergence of post-modern aesthetics where women have changed their roles in the society, different types of fashion are adorned on dramatically. However, with the help of capitalism and modern technology, it seems like the society still portray the same message where women need to be desirable-looking. Growth of modern society may have broken down class barriers and lead to pursuit of individuality. However, it is a misconception that women can escape from social and aesthetics demands, mass media and fashion industries will still force upon certain level of stress.

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About The Author: Alex Xiaojun Tian is a Senior enrolled in the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania, Class of 2017. To read more articles by Alex, go here: https://tonywardstudio.com/blog/alex-xiaojun-tian-flashback-dresses/