We say 'This is me'. 'This is so you'. 'This is not really me, it's more you'.
It's complicated.
Take Cindy Sherman. Here's a girl who surely likes to dress up.
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| All above: Cindy Sherman 'Untitled Film Still' |
She puts on wigs, uses elaborate make-up and wears costumes to show how we use clothes to reveal or hide ourselves accordingly. Props such as a hat, a cigarette, a briefcase or a book provide additional clues to each character being staged in Cindy's famous stills.
Or Pina Bausch, whose simple, everyday costumes, put on, very un-dance like, belie the complicated flood of needs and desires, joys and sorrows, yearnings and longings her elaborate choreographies then stage.
Her characters, not always professional dancers, in ordinary dresses, suits, high heels and everyday shoes, are often caught in a sea of kitchen chairs, flowers or soil; clearly at odds with what they want, but what then say. 'I am free, but not available.' 'I want you, but leave me alone.' 'Love me, leave me, love me.' 'It's not me, but it's not you.'
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| All above: Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal |
At the time of the dirndl things were much simpler.
Wear it with a bow tied to the right to say "I am married"; to the left "I am still looking"; at the back "I have loved, but lost, so I am free again".
Life is complicated enough.
This spring/summer don't send out mixed messages.
Wear a dirndl.