i printed out the article so i could read it over a few times - it was great, thanks for posting.
the original article mentions class issues without using the actual word "class" - and skirts around the elephant in the room which is Conspicuous Consumption - that is, wearing, eating, most importantly BUYING things in order to be seen buying them. i think *this* is what most people are thinking about when they dismiss fashion or think it a frivolous sin.
i live in berkeley/oakland; where most of the hippie kids on the street are trust fund babies trying not to look entitled. i think the ideal of a level playing field/american equality for all means that those who have money try not to look like they do.
whereas those who DON'T have money wear it in their bodies by displaying brand names, and in their teeth/"grillz", and in their cars booming by you.most black people born before the '80s (myself included) were raised to NEVER go out without ironing clothes and looking neat, the idea being that no matter how you hard you had to struggle you never let 'them' see you looking bad. it was a matter of pride, you know.
but then those street/working class fashions are co-opted later on, meant to convey...what? certainly not a sympathy with the underclass? and the working-class takes on the logos and nametags of the upper-class...
it seems like there are at least 4 things we're talking about in this thread:
1) the sense that the body is your canvas, and the muse of the artist who chooses the body as his/her inspiration - the sensuality of that process for maker and wearer;
2) how you see yourself, your level of vanity/self-consciousness/self-awareness;
3) who you choose to associate with, where you come from and where you might be going, especially regarding money- remember how Hannibal Lecter 'read' Clarisse by her clothing and her shoes? ;
4) i forgot what four was but i'm sure it was good...
i loved guy trebay's lines about "the role clothes play in human theater", and his observation of fashion shows "with their enforced passivity and aura of feminine spectatorship." i'm going to think about those....