Somewhere along the line, when they were making the show The Big Bang Theory, someone said “hey, this guy is a geek. Put him in comic book T-shirts, and everyone will know.” And then wardrobe was done with Sheldon. Next they decided to dress Penny and they said “Umm, she’s a hot actress. Make sure she shows some boob.” And done again. Whether we try to or not, we often judge people by their appearance. After all, it’s the first impression we generally get with a new person. From nerd T-shirts, to business casual, to formal evening wear and even to sexy lingerie…. we use clothing to communicate. For better or worse, we use it both to announce ourselves as members of a sub-culture AND as a gatekeeping measure to keep others out of the sub-culture… something any number of women who have ever had to try to justify their own superhero t-shirt at a comic book store can attest to. Mav, Katya and Wayne are joined by a returning Nicole Freim to discuss the idea communication through fashion, both in real life and how it is translated into its online equivalent, profile avatars.
Referenced Memes and Images
Citations and Links:
- This episode’s Call for Comments
- The Fashion System by Roland Barthes
- “About Face” by Nate Powell
- Hear Mav as a guest on The Protagonist Podcast
- Thank you to Maximilian’s thoughtForm Music for our theme
- Follow Nicole Freim on Twitter: @NFreim
- Follow Mav on Twitter: @chrismaverick
- Follow Katya on Instagram: @justthatnerdkid
- Follow Mav’s Personal Blog: http://chrismaverick.com
- Follow Wayne’s Personal Blog: http://wayne-wise.com
- Follow us on Twitter: @voxpopcast
- Follow us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/voxpopcast
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Nerdy low cut t-shirt that shows lots of cleavage?
I didn’t think to mention it on the episode and I probably should have. But when Nicole Freim was talking about what the clothing her students wear implies, we should have talked about Victoria’s Secret successfully marketing “Pink” as a lifestyle brand.. Essentially they managed to make it cool to advertise what kind of underwear you have on on a sweatshirt.
Chris Maverick pink’s also slang for vagina.
But you likely knew that ?
yeah… and there’s no way no one realized that during the pitch meeting
Wayne Wise Beatles Tee FTW ?