11th of May

(Before)

From the view of urban planning and feminist critics, I chose one of the most famous shopping areas in my home town(which is the capital of Taiwan) as the field. I would like to find out the development of that area has to do with the body performance among those retailers within that. I found out that, the most prosperous period of that area has already passed. The clothing “style” or body performance of these retailers is alsonot the same  because of the aging of main customer collective. In other words,  customers are getting old, and what they need has already been different. These shop adapted these difference and altered the shopping landscape within this area into a more mature way.

From a feminist viewpoint, it could still see how Foucault idea on discipline worked in a mutual way. It is not only a top-down narrative that the fashion industry disciplined all the followers, but these shoppers also developed a bottom-up narrative to regulate their most-visit shops. The male gaze practice from Laura Mulvey is also telling the same story. Being the object of the gaze, women could only follow the mainstream opinion and fixed their body into a more “correct”sense.

However, it makes me wonder are these shoppers all this passive to be the victim of the system? After the in-depth interview with the retailers as the one sold and bought things in the same area, the concludsion was not such a simple answer. It is not suggesting customers should develop a break-through strategy to fight against this system, but pay attention to these disciplinary implications of cothing industry. Avoiding and denying from such structure is impossible, but creating another path to self-empowering from within is the most important issue after such awareness. 

(After)

From the perspective of urban planning and feminist critics, I chose one of the most famous shopping areas in my home town as the field of research. I would like to find out the relationship between the development of that area and the outlook of those clothing store retailers. I found out that, the most prosperous period of that area has already passed. The clothing “style” or body performance of these retailers is also not the same because of the aging of crucial  target customers. In other words, customers are getting old, and what they need has already changed. These shops adapted to these differences and presented themselves in a more mature way. Such changes altered the shopping landscape.

From a feminist viewpoint, the whole clothing industry is a highly organized discourse of disciplines on bodies. By presenting the design on the catwalk, designers construct their imaginations of the customers’ bodies, which later becomes the discipline(Foucault,??) for the customers to alter their body. However, in this case, the discipline also functions in a reverse way. It is not only a top-down influence that the fashion industry disciplined all the followers, but these shoppers also developed a bottom-up influence to regulate their most-visit shops.

However, I wonder:are these shoppers so passive as only the victim of the system? After the in-depth interviews with the retailer who are also customers within the same area, the discover is not so simple. With this I am not suggesting customers should develop a break-through strategy to fight against this system of discipline, but could pay more attention to these disciplining implications of the cothing industry. It is impossbile to avoid and deny such structure, but the garments are not something with only drawbacks. By putting on clothes, it creates another path to self-empowering. It would be more possitive to take clothes as objects capable of empowering  than only as objects of fulfilling designers fantasies.

筆記：

1. Adapt to 別忘記介系詞
2. It is not suggesting是錯的  With this I am not suggesting比較好
3. it makes me wonder是錯的  I wonder:  比較好

第一次嘗試這樣深深而且緩緩的修改自己的東西，感覺很可怕，知道自己幾天來寫的東西，寫到一頭熱的時候所有東西就會卡在一起然後壞去。小心謹慎。