In recent years, everything from Vivienne Westwood's fake-fur panties to Jean-Paul Gaultier's cone bras have appeared on fashion runways-everything a fetishist dreams about. But the connection between fashion and fetishism goes beyond a handful of couture collections. In her book "Fetish, Fashion, Sex and Power," Valerie Steele, a cultural and fashion historian, explores how fashion is "a symbolic system linked to the expression of sexuality-both sexual behavior (including erotic attraction) and gender identity."
The meaning of the word fetish has changed over the years. Originally it meant "artifact," or "a labor of appearances and signs." By the early 1800s, its meaning was extended to anything that was "irrationally worshipped." In 1887, French theorist Alfred Binet first used the word "fetishism" in an essay; the concept of erotic fetishism was adopted soon after by those studying sexual deviations. Fetishism, according to Steele is not just about sexuality but very much about power and perception.
Psychologists and historians agree that to some degree we are all fetishists. There are, however, varying levels of intensity. The lowest degree of fetishism is defined as "a strong preference exists"; the highest that "specific stimuli take the place of a sex partner."
How fetishism relates to fashion (or vice versa) is the purpose of Steele's book. For the past thirty years, she says, fashion designers have "playfully" borrowed from fetishistic themes. Prior to 1965, fetishistic imagery was hidden in the "underground". But the onslaught of the sexual revolution in the 1960s and 1970s brought it "above ground." At that time, fetish fashion such as the leather jumpsuit or thigh-high boots began to appear. Punk bands, like the Sex Pistols, clothed in leather and dog collars made fetish garb more common. In the early 1980s attitudes began to change. Suddenly "sexual liberation was not all happy and healthy." At that time, the women's movement began to preach the fact that male sexual behavior exploited or dehumanized women. Since then, however, women have decided that, in fact, the ability to wear whatever they want is freeing.
Because a fetish is anything you want it to be, it's impossible to fix the limits of fetish fashion. Although, in general, it can be defined as anything that "binds" the body. For example, the corset. A couple of years ago, the New York Times wrote in an article titled: "The debate on whether corsets embrace or imprison may stir again as newfangled corsets, seen at the recent resort collections are appearing on the street." Steele interviews a couple of women who "lace up" every day in an attempt to shrink their waists. One woman's waist is 17 inches, the other 19 inches. Perhaps the most popular fetish fashion, however, is the high-heeled shoe. Steele says it represents a "symbol of love" and at the same time a "symbol of aggression." Further, there is something about crushing one's foot painfully into a high-heeled shoe that is a turn-on to a lot of people.
Steele concludes that whatever is "forbidden is eroticized" (and always will be), and that what we see played out in fashion is merely the "disappearing boundary between the normal and the perverse.
[ Prism Online June 1996 Article Index ]
[ Top of document ]
HTMLized by Steve Thoemke (sthoemke@nermal.santarosa.edu )