Hong Xinyi had written an article which appeared in last week's Life. She mentioned how clothes are portrayed by the arts as depicting the particular time periods they are worn in. Once the book or movie is understood in its chronological context, with the help of the clothes the characters wear, it can be fully appreciated. An example is: the female characters are dressed in power suits with shoulder pads within them and this tells the audience that the story is set in the 1980s. Thus, the audience expect notions associated with that era to surface as they continue to get to know the story.
Sadly, the type of clothes worn by people in reality evoke biased judgements on them. If a lady wears an outfit that is not in sync with what is fashionable at that moment in time, she is seen as someone who is not trendy and thus is gossiped about. Do the clothes one wear determine one's true beauty, from within herself? Are clothes intrinsically linked to beauty? We were born without clothes, in case we have forgotten that. Our real beauty comes from the light within us, of all that is good.
Xinyi included a story entitled A Pair of Silk Stockings in her writeup. To me, the story is on the perils of consumerism and how it is strong enough to tempt one away from the important priorities in life. She gave a different perspective on it, that it can be a form of escapism that one can flock to when one is tired out from the burdens of life. It is a powerful story that affects people differently.
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