What is a religious costume? Dressing behavior formed by taking God as the eye of the other. In fact, no matter what form of clothing, it is formed by the eyes of an "other". If human society becomes a complete individual society, there is no communication between people, and there is no need to exist in the form of social groups, then people do not need all the pretenses for themselves or things around them. The existence of the so-called "God" as the other is the beginning of people's understanding of natural forces. The fear of God and the hope of communicating with God drive people to constantly add their own understanding of God in the modeling and decoration of clothing-please note that although these decorations are wonderful, beautiful and noble things for human beings in essence, in fact, human beings want to please the gods. To a great extent, the beauty of clothes does not exist to please oneself, but to please "others".
When human clothing is still in the stage of "primitive religious clothing", human productivity is extremely low. In order to pray for God's protection, people unreservedly present the best things they can do to God. However, with the passage of time and the development of productivity, great changes have taken place in human society. Human beings have surplus resources, so there is a gap between the rich and the poor. At this time, class appeared. At this time, most people realize that besides God, there are similar gods on the earth, and some people can exercise their power that they can't, so part of their worship and awe of God is transferred to those "outstanding" mortals. And these "outstanding people" began to hope to express their authority through some means-to make their clothes have some symbolic significance. This is actually an imitation of the original worship before. In fact, the ruler doesn't feel that he is really different from ordinary people, but he is afraid that this secret will be known by other ordinary people and will be out of his own management. As a result, most rulers began to publicize that their power was given by "God", that they were the messengers of "God" on earth, and that politics was subordinate to religion, so their clothes should be different from those of ordinary people and close to God as much as possible. Such clothes are endowed with certain political content, because they become political clothes that express political or social functions. Therefore, at the beginning of each dynasty, a new crown service system will be established to distinguish it from the previous dynasties, and they will vigorously promote their orthodoxy and get the protection of God. The downfall of the previous dynasties was spurned by God because of their immorality. Therefore, in class society, religion and politics are inseparable, and the aesthetic characteristics such as gorgeous and solemn required by political costumes come down in one continuous line from religious costumes.
However, in class society, the role of religion began to deteriorate because of the existence of the "God of the Earth", that is, the ruler. From the social function, it mainly becomes the "microphone" of the rulers, and it is an important prop for the rulers to supervise the masses ideologically. Therefore, the religious costumes at this time no longer emphasize aesthetic feeling and worship as in the primitive religious period, but begin to have certain symbolic significance, which is an important feature of "rational religious costumes". The so-called rational religion is mainly relative to primitive religion, which refers to Christianity, Buddhism, Islam and other religions that have a complete and classic industry etiquette system and have been passed down to this day. At first, these religious costumes also had symbolic religious significance, full of praise for God, but in the process of development, they gradually turned into an emphasis on status and doctrine, which is actually similar to the role of political costumes. If it is said that "the crown clothing system has become a pure decoration and a form only attached to power, it is precisely because its sacred significance has been lost and its political significance has become more prominent", then the process of religious clothing gradually developing from "primitive religious clothing" to "rational religious clothing" is also the process of "religious significance" gradually losing and "political significance" gradually upgrading-not to say that the current religious clothing has lost its sacredness. At this time, the significance of religious clothing really developed into: first, imitating God to influence God and then influence reality, just facing the audience as the "other", stimulating emotions and covering up personal factors.
As mentioned earlier, the change of productivity plays a decisive role in the development of society from primitive society to class society. Although a few "ruling classes" were created at this time, on the other hand, the quality of life of ordinary people also made a qualitative leap. Clothing is not only determined by the original function of avoiding cold. At this time, the factors affecting secular fashion have increased. First of all, as a "people of God", it is inevitable to be close to God in clothing, which is determined by a person's economic situation, whether it is gorgeous or simple, but they try their best to provide the best; Secondly, as a "ruler's people", it is determined by the ruler's preferences, and the styles and colors are trying to imitate the crown pattern formulated by the ruler. Humans are gregarious animals and have a serious sense of following instinct. Therefore, in a hierarchical society, the mode of clothing dissemination strictly follows the "top-down" form, and the standard of fashion lies in maintaining the dignity of the ruling class.
With the further development of productive forces, human society has entered a democratic society from a class society, and social customs have undergone tremendous changes in all aspects. First, about the mode of communication: in class society, the emergence and popularity of fashion in every era are related to the ideal image created by this era, so the focus of the rulers in hierarchical society is that fashion is passed on to ordinary people by the rulers; But in a democratic society, the ideal image is the middle class and bourgeoisie who are engaged in practical work or the social celebrities and stars who appear later. In fact, the imitation behavior of communication itself has not changed in essence, but the idol has changed. Because idols are different, popular elements are diversified, and these idols are ordinary people themselves, so sometimes they may learn from other ordinary people, which forms a complete fashion cycle. Second, on the issue of form: the leisure class leads the trend in class society, so the decorative significance of clothing is obviously greater than practicality; In a democratic society, due to the popularity of idols and Putonghua, the importance of emphasizing functions has been highlighted, and the legal restrictions of the clothing system have been abolished. Simplicity and durability have become another important standard for ordinary people to dress; However, it does not mean that the class differences in clothing are really gone. On the contrary, due to the lack of restrictions, this class difference is more extreme. Rich people can wear gorgeous clothes, but in the same style, people without money can only be said to be shelters. Third, internationalization: Due to the convenience of international communication, under the influence of the international environment, most countries and regions do not have a particularly fixed dress form, and the style of clothing is developing in the direction of internationalization, while national clothing has become an accessory that can only be thought of in occasions with special significance such as festivals and ceremonies. Fourthly, after the internationalization of fashion, the frequent changes of fashion trends are inevitable: this is nothing more than two kinds of human psychology-"conformity psychology" and "independence psychology"; On the one hand, I hope to form a complete society by imitating others, rather than being isolated, on the other hand, I hope to show my uniqueness and self-identity by distinguishing myself from others; So some people have racked their brains for reform and innovation, and some people have tried their best to follow suit so as not to deviate from the times.
At this time, it can finally be said that fashion, as a consumer product, has matured in the social sense. From agricultural society to industrial society, although productivity has improved, it is not enough to supply people's desire for consumption, and when social productivity begins to exceed the demand for human beings, human beings enter a consumption-oriented society. At this time, the requirement of consumption has replaced the requirement of survival as the main purpose of production, and the false waste of surplus products and the satisfaction of demand have become the universal consumption motivation of society. The culture of consumption has changed from pure physical material satisfaction to the sustenance of desire, and the consumption of material needs has also become the inexplicable consumption of desire symbol. Consumption has become another form of communication between people and between people and society beyond ideology. During this period, public language (media and public opinion orientation) became the most authoritative expositor of fashion. As a new guide to clothing, public language is not as mandatory as the previous class society, but is publicized in the form of pleasing and pleasing the public. By catering to everyone's senses and desires, the public is willing to accept what they like. Coupled with the deliberately created beautiful consumption environment, numerous consumption forms and various commodity choices, people will naturally follow suit unconsciously. But in fact, such clothing restrictions are more violent and unreasonable than the previous corsets and foot binding. Material waste is only superficial attachment. In essence, this fashion as a consumer product has deepened people's mental brainwashing-"I must use lv bags this year", "I am really too fat, and the model is only one foot seven" and "green and Bohemian styles are popular now" ... The public is unconsciously guided by this consumption concept. Desperate is just to conform to the current "fashion" and "trend". Such mental health, whether healthy or not, first of all brings a huge burden to individuals economically, and adds countless "strange troubles" mentally. Moreover, as the requirements become more and more complicated, this mental burden will increase day by day, which will eventually lead to the collapse of personality and moral degradation. However, clothing or "fashion in clothing" exists as a consumer product, but it is actually established.
With the development of productive forces, the process of clothing from religious clothing to political clothing to fashion and then to fashion as a consumer product has lasted for thousands of years, but it can only be said that this is an inevitable process, and neither praise nor criticism has substantive significance. As a fashion designer, I think about fashion and fashion every minute of every day. I feel powerless in the face of historical development, and I am deeply tired of it. I can only say that clothes have played a modest joke on my life.