faith, not selective bits and pieces. He means that the congregation has no power to
negotiate and that they are “subjugated to the great truth” of religion (14). On the
contrary, Fiske means that consumers have more power to choose and to influence
the system of consumerism, they have the possibility to fight back and turning the
shopping malls to “arenas of struggle”, something similar is not possible in religion
(14f ). In the examples of “shopdropping”, in the Hacking chapter, we have seen
how active resistance in the aisle can resonate neatly with Fiske’s notion of struggle.
Nevertheless, Fiske’s neglect of the possibility of resistance within rituals and reli-
gious communities could trigger us to examine how struggle manifests there.
It is tempting to draw much upon the metaphor between religion and fashion, but
that has to be another adventure. This time we will focus on the struggle of who
can use the rituals and for what purpose. We will see practices reproduced by the
believers at the bottom of the religious system, how they make room for own inter-
pretations and how these relate and answer to the “dictations” from the cathedral’s
top. In this struggle the use of clothes can also serve a special purpose. To use cloth-
ing as a tool for spiritual self-enhancement is not something new and this personal
aspect of our second skin can indeed bring us closer to see how we can use clothing
for liberation.
fashion and self-enhancement
We don’t have to be too abstract or metaphorical to see spiritual and deeply per-
sonal connections between clothing and ourselves. As religion transforms to affect
our lives differently today than a century before, some of the rituals still persist,
and in some cases fashion can be said to take a role in helping people to self-en-
hancement. We are thus not always “victims” to fashion, but also learn to use it as
a vehicle for our dreams and personal motivation. This can be a shopping ritual
before a job interview, updating the second skin to better express “who we really
are”, or the ritual cleaning before meeting a new date to boost self-esteem.
Clothing follows us through life whether we want it or not, marking various social
segments, stages and transitions. It also signifies group roles, professional respon-
sibilities and chains of command. It sometimes deindividualizes to enhance group
loyalty and efficiency, and sometimes offers uniforms for empowering individual
resistance.
Through all these scenarios clothing also helps persons to self-enhancement. For
anthropologist Jane Schneider self-enhancement loosely refers to
energizing the self and close others, perhaps organized in small groups, through life-
affirming practices and rituals. Examples involving cloth and clothes include trans-
forming the body and its surroundings in ways considered aesthetically or sexually
attractive; dressing well to accrue prestige, the respect of others, a sense of worthiness
or empowerment (Schneider 2006: 203)As a second skin clothing is always firmly connected to rituals within most human
cultures and marks both social and biological metamorphosis. The woven cloth
has been a central part of human civilization throughout the ages, enveloping our
bodies with social meaning-generating processes.
As James J. Fox summarized for Indonesia’s outer islands, it ‘swaddles the newborn,
wraps and heals the sick, embraces and unites the bride and groom, encloses the wed-
ding bed, and in the end, enshrouds the dead’ (Schneider 2006: 204)