05/02/2020 - 16:27
- Clarín.com
- Society
Now it seems "normal", but that everyone wore a chinstrap , at first, it was a deformity. After the surprise and the first 40 days of quarantine for the coronavirus pandemic, however, a disturbing gesture persists : gossiping at the other's chinstrap . That rapid deviation of the gaze to -of glancing- judge the mask. As if it were, in effect, a garment. As if by transitive nature it said something about who is wearing it. As if choosing a designer one or manufacturing it with a broken rag or, instead, buying it turnkey, we would send a message to others.
Everything - on top - occurs in the midst of a ridiculous step of comedy in those long lines of tousles almost in pajamas and at a prophylactic distance, who strive to avoid the gaze of the other while seeking to decipher faces and gestures under the canvas. What does the chinstrap say about us and our life in isolation? And, furthermore: just as the jean went from being a utilitarian garment (for jobs that required resistant clothing) to one of the most indispensable items of modern life, is it that the chinstrap arrived (fatally) to stay? For now, since this Monday in the City its use is mandatory not only in public transport or closed premises, but even to go outside.
Laura Zambrini is a research sociologist at Conicet and holder of the chair of Sociology in the FADU Clothing and Textile Design career. Clarín apologized for consulting her on a “soft”, perhaps trivial, topic in the context of a pandemic such as the one that takes our sleep away today. But she firmly replied: “I would not see it that way. At this moment there is an important dialogue between the field of textile fashion and the field of health ”.
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A parenthesis. This medium also contacted Benito Fernández, renowned fashion designer. "Just a couple of days ago we donated some chinstraps to Casa Cuna", he warned, and said: "Chinstrap is something gross: fashion is the aspect of life that interprets us most quickly ."
So the chinstrap "translates" us? It's funny because while some evidence have put a disproportionate dedication in making their masks (and are even proud couples with combined designs in "tandem mode"), others the question slips them squarely . Their selflessness leads them to hunt down any scarf or kerchief, and bye. Or, worse, to reuse disposable chinstraps made of stretched elastics that are later hanging like drool under the nose.
Extreme cases are also seen, the most unusual items in the place of "masks" : sports knee pads tightening the face, an absurd detachable jacket, a "ballerina" (yes, the classic yellow rag) tied with elastic bands. And (real) a cup of push-up bodice tied at the nape of the neck.
Fashion designer Benito Fernández with one of his chinstrap models.
But, even so, Benito Fernández stresses that the chinstrap, at this moment, “condenses and represents everything that is happening to us . And this is a time when the message is direct and literal, in the style of the 80s, when those shirts were used with ideological phrases or thoughts. The chinstrap for many occupied that place ”.
At the same time, he added, “the message is direct and also today fashion is understood on the street : this decade imposes on us that, more than stained glass of such a brand, what interests you is seeing the person who is looking at the stained glass window. .. his retro bag, his jean, the shirt he wears, his wallet. "
A woman with a custom chinstrap in Peckham, London. / Hannah McKay / Reuters
For Fernández, “without a doubt it has a utilitarian purpose, but, also, the chinstrap expresses everything that we cannot express in this context: confinement, how similar we are or, conversely, how different we are from others. Respect for the other but also distance from the other ”.
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Zambrini had spoken of a "meeting" between the world of textile design andHealth. Beyond that the chinstrap seems to be the only garment that these days we are empowered to " wear ", the sociologist explained that "more and more clothing designers are inserted into health. In the 20th century, fashion stopped being thought only from its aesthetic function and opened itself to other goals, such as functionality , its ability to solve problems. This is part of the classic tensions between the concepts of 'fashion' and 'design' ”.
“Today we use the chinstrap because it is imposed on us as reality. When a garment becomes fashionable, other variables are at stake. But at the same time, through clothing, society makes a search: it is one of the ways to produce social distinction. Through the materiality of these chinstraps a way of distinguishing itself emerges, "he said.
The classic "facilitator" who uses a scarf instead of a chinstrap. EFE / Orlando Barría
And, therefore, if it is made with such a fabric or another, if it is "verbose" or not, it can lead to value judgments . "Precisely because through clothing, consciously or unconsciously we are marking an expression of our identity and the trajectories of social identity: where we come from, our habits, our education and culture. It is not direct or linear, but there is something there in game in the aesthetic choice that is evident: fashion operates strongly in social belonging , both to unite and to operate in the form of rebellion ”.
Zambrini reiterated that, since the “paradigm of the 20th century was in crisis - which led to questioning the merely aesthetic function of garments such as 'too tight' jeans or heels - other concepts linked to the production of the textile design: sustainability , environmental pollution or social exploitation ,For example ”.
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Watch the specialSo having said all that, was the chinstrap here to stay? For Zambrini “it is a very new scenario and we don't know what will happen. But all this makes us rethink the relationship with the body itself, especially how to communicate with new technologies and the role that garments with a technological function will have in the near future . "This, however, brings into play" the accessibility of these products, which will be marked by a class issue ”.
Benito Fernández, however, had another hunch: “ The chinstrap is going to stay . It will be incorporated as a garment and will be transformed, no doubt. Maybe in the winter it's a kind of collar, or neck scarf. I don't know how, but it's going to be difficult for us to get rid of our chinstrap ”.