You look amazing!: Between performance and performativity

Abstract

This thesis unpacks the concepts of performativity of the dress, the gaze, and layers of the self within the context of Occident by exploring the durational performance the Fabric of Identity, and performance today it suits me.

Through the method of dress up, borrowing garments from the Theatre Academy's costume department wardrobe, and the dress up repetition in the Fabric of Identity, the concept of performativity of the dress up is revealed. Commitment to this dress up weekly for a year leads to uncovering the layers of the self while layering the body with the fabrics of attire. This thesis is written with the author's journals from the dress up days, reflections of the performances, references from their colleagues, and theories from scholars.

This process leads to the main question, which is how the materials of fabrics affect and shape the immaterial self.

The thesis addresses the main question concerning the social sphere, the language of clothes, and how different types of gazes, particularly the ‘male gaze’, external or internal, make the author feel and guide their dress choices. It describes the liminal space between performance and performativity, the body of the author being stuck amidst them. The thesis continues with the author’s embracement of the sensual aspect the dress entails, returns the gaze, and highlights the perspective of the wearer.

It continues with the concepts of the gaze and the dress empowerment, describing the process of performance today it suits me, introducing the venue, the fashion boutique Liike, and the collaboration with the fashion designer Autuas Ukkonen. It follows with the description of the dress design for the performance that helps the author to transition into the performance diva and return the gaze unapologetically. The author’s pop influences on their teenage self are revealed and how they modify them into a tool to boost the performing self. Differences and similarities in performing durational performance and performance as spectacle are introduced after. Based on the research executed through the two performances, this thesis proposes a definition for durational performance and performance.

Finally, the thesis concludes with the role the institution has played in enabling research into the performativity of the dress and its power, the author’s struggles encountered on the journey of unconventional use of garments originally intended for theatre play, and the unconventional way of performing in them they choose to do.