Fashion foward speaker defines global clothing trends

The F-word has a different meaning to Joanne B. Eicher, stretching far beyond the usual connotations of the word.\nThe emeritus regents professor at the University of Minnesota Department of Design, Housing and Apparel visited the Indiana Memorial Union’s Whittenberger Auditorium on Monday afternoon for a presentation titled “My Life with the F Word.” Sponsored by the IU Department of Apparel Merchandising and Design and with help from the Bill Blass/Indiana University Lecture Series, Eicher’s presentation focused on her experiences as a global fashion researcher and scholar, and the importance and difference of dress and fashion.\n“If you do not think clothes are important, try going to work without them,” Eicher said.\nEicher picked up the presentation’s title from a paper that the now-director of the Fashion Institute of Technology Museum wrote in college. “The director of the FIT Museum told her professor her final paper would be over fashion, dubbing her paper ‘The F Word.’ Her professor thought she said ‘fascism,’” Eicher joked.\nShe said the professor was disappointed when he learned that the paper was instead on fashion.\nThe importance of fashion may be taken more seriously locally if it were known that the late fashion designer Bill Blass praised IU for its wealth of creative opportunity after visiting campus. He said he saw growth and many cultures, ethnicities and disciplines.\n“Bill Blass once said that you could not teach design, you had to live it, and live it in New York City,” Eicher said.\nEicher said appearance is a significant form of nonverbal communication – a conversation that follows the initial assessment of someone’s wardrobe is a reflection on his or her dress and fashion.\nApparel-merchandising major Christine Sims, a freshman, said the presentation was interesting.\n“It was cool to see how clothing has a different emphasis depending where a person is from,” Sims said. “The emphasis definitely portrays how a person dresses and what people think of you.”\nIt is important to understand the difference between “dress” and “fashion.” Dress, Eicher said, includes body modifications and supplements and includes four of the five senses. She noted that touch could be a texture, skin or hair. Sound could include fabric like taffeta or the noise of high-heeled shoes. Scent would include cosmetics and perfume. Taste could be lipstick or pomade.\nEicher provided comparisons of the different meanings of being “smart” or “well groomed.” She noted that fashion in Los Angeles is having a sculpted body, fashion in New York City is being well-manicured, and fashion in London is being classy. The importance is not only emphasized in those cities, but also in magazines and television shows. Eicher noted that these media outlets show that fashion is significant and prominent in many people’s lives.\nHowever, it is not only in the fashion industry, magazines or television shows where there is a significant emphasis on dress, clothing and appearance, Eicher said. In the corporate and business world, “casual Fridays” may not be so casual anymore. Target and airline companies have published manuals of office-appropriate attire, complete with pictures of suggested skirt-blouse and pant-suit combinations and the proper way to wear uniforms.\nAlthough fashion is significant in the West, places like Nigeria have also acknowledged the importance of fashion.\n“In Africa, people rely on imported goods the most. Their textiles show prominence and significance, like how long they have been trading, if they have fabric from long ago. It is like a family having gold or silver here,” Eicher said.\nMadras, a popular plaid fabric that is worn in Nigeria, is worn specially for events like funerals and celebrations. The detail in the outfits – like hemlines and the height of their heels – show the culture’s attention.\n“We do not have enough research yet about fashion in places outside the Western hemisphere to say why everyone does not put the same emphasis on fashion, but there is credit to be given where it has not been received to other countries,” Eicher said. “We often overlook that.”\nEicher is editing the 10-volume World Encyclopedia of Dress and Adornment, to be published between 2007 and 2012. She is also the consulting editor for Berg Publishers and owns one of the largest private collections of West African and Nigerian textiles in the United States.