Re-Fashioning Masculinities: A Theologian-Seamstress’s Experiment
by Deja Wilson
In Robert Covolo’s revolutionary work, Fashion Theology, he interrogates the relationship between fashion theory and theology. Fashion theory argues that “what starts as a conversation about clothing morphs imperceptibly into some of the biggest questions about social order, aesthetics, theories of modernity and secularization, and the public performance of identity.” Fashion is not merely contorted fabric with which one chooses to adorn one's body. It is a deeply conceptual and theoretical performance of gender expression. Every time we wake up and get dressed, we subconsciously make decisions about how we want to be perceived by others. Those decisions, whether intentional or not, usher us into visual dialogue within larger society about socialization, constructions of gender, race, class, body image, God-talk and religion, and systemic hierarchical systems. By investigating fashion’s history and fashion theory, we enter into a larger conversation about society’s perpetuation of hegemonic masculinity, and we are invited to consider how bodies, clothing, and their unique expressions expand our understanding and acceptance of alternative masculinities.
Since the early 19th century, fashion has been utilized as a tool to create social order and perpetuate the constructed gender binary of masculine and feminine. Elizabeth Hawes, a prominent fashion designer and feminist activist, was among the first to challenge the link between gender and fashion. On April 5, 1967, she debuted an exhibit at the Fashion Institute of Technology, where she showcased her latest fashion line of male skirts. Hawes felt the masculinization and feminization of clothing granted men greater power in society, so she aimed to create a unisex aesthetic that contested this power dynamic and the rigid constructions of gender. In the early 19th century, Hawes understood what many of us are just now realizing: fashion and clothing are used as body, gender, and sexuality identifiers and signifiers that create meaning about the actual bodies of the wearers, societal order, and constructions of gender.
In recognizing the multifaceted work of fashion, I created a convertible clothing garment to symbolize masculinities and how, when worn on societally othered bodies in varying conversions and iterations, this garment can shape, inform, and expand our understanding of masculinities. Using my garment as a metaphor, consider how Masculinity is redefined when expressed (worn) by an individual who identifies as non-binary as opposed to a person who identifies as a transgender woman. Add additional identity markers such as race, class, and religion to the picture, and what began as a visual dialogue about identity has shifted to a profoundly complex conversation about performativity, body image, and the expression of masculinities based on who and what body performs it.
The convertible nature of my garment aims to represent the various iterations of masculinities and its shape-shifting capability based on the wearer. In this way, fashion visually and conceptually impacts our theoretical understanding of gender. When differing bodies and identities display their versions of masculinities, our society is ushered into a conversation about constructions of gender. This conversation thus invites us to critique hegemonic Masculinity and consider how we have been complicit in perpetuating its villainous and oppressive behaviors. Theologically, we are also invited to critique religion’s perpetuation of hegemonic Masculinity and consider how fashion invites us to expand our view of God and God’s children. When we prioritize certain bodies and force people into masculine and feminine categories, we limit the vastness of God and God’s ability to express God’s self in bodies and identities outside of the binaries of male and female.
What you will see in the video are four religious leaders of various gender identities, sexual orientations, and denominational affiliations, wearing and describing their understanding of masculinities. I invite you to pay close attention to how they observe the garment, feel the texture of its fibers, and inspect its seams. Like many of us, before embodying masculinities, we observe, feel out, and try on versions that best suit us before making it our own. As you watch the video, consider the iterations of the garments selected and how each person, with their selection, refashions or redefines masculinities. And then, lastly, I ask you to consider these questions: 1) How might each of the bodies/individuals in this video inform understandings of masculinities? 2) What happens when we decenter hegemonic Masculinity and recenter these alternative masculinities in the secular and religious worlds? 3) How might fashion theory influence how we make meaning of presentations of religious masculinities?
Deja Wilson is a third-year Master of Divinity student at Princeton Theological Seminary, concentrating in Black Church Studies and Theology, Women and Gender. Deja learned to sew from her grandmother when she was ten years old and enjoys intersecting her love of sewing with her passion for theology. Deja has a myriad of interests, including the intersections between public health and theology, womanist theology, homiletics, and, more recently, understanding the ways that Black men and women can deconstruct white supremacist hegemonic Masculinity and live into alternative masculinities that embody liberation and radical self-love for the Black community.