History and Sociology of Clothing 19De young Barr, A Psychological Analysis of Fashion Motivation, new york,
1954 [1934].
28 Flügel distinguishes nine types of garments according to the psychology
of the wearer: (1) rebellious type; (2) resigned type; (3) unemotional type;
(4) prudish type; (5) duty type; (6) protected type; (7) supported type; (8)
sublimated type; (9) self-satisfied type (The Psychology of Clothes, p. 96).
29 These two aspects of psychoanalytical explanation can be understood
by the ways we understand starching (Flügel, ibid.): it is explained by
psychoanalysis either as an extension of the personality or as a phallic
symbol. however, outside of the psychoanalytical perspective, Western
dress never really has any symbols (one of the rare examples would be
medieval bi-partism, a symbol of psychic division); so dress is based
entirely on an order of signs and not of symbols, that is to say there is no
motivational link in dress between the signified and the signifier.
30 It goes without saying that the play in vestimentary signs is heavily
dependent on the standing of the wearer as an index of their standard
of living.