In this information society, driven by the media and catered to the masses, there are images which pervade our senses everyday. This is a fact of life, and at times, it seems, an unchangeable tide. Perhaps the most hotly bashed, and most vehemently defended, is the image of the female form as presented by all media in general, and the fashion industry specifically. However, there are many aspects to the image of female, and from all of its imitators there is a presentation of something false. Whether it is an improbably thin woman strutting down a runway, an advertisement in a magazine, or a man re-creating himself as a woman, some sort of manipulation has occurred, and what is seen is not necessarily intended by nature.

When I first began this project almost a year and a half ago, my only intention was to comment on my disgust with what I then saw as the obscenely thin models used by the fashion industry. So I brainstormed for ideas and researched the social implications, and slowly, I realized that I was not the only person thinking this way. Nor was I the only person to ever create a piece of art around this concept. Gradually, and after an enlightening conversation with Brad Nickels, art history professor and member of my thesis committee, I found that my focus had changed somewhat. No longer was I outraged by the models’ appearance.

Part of this was due to a realization that the fashion industry neither uses its models to oppress nor to present an ideal, but to create a fantasy environment of women who are not quite real, both in their age and in their physique. They are a fashion designer’s dream, a walking mannequin with none of the lumps and bumps which would hinder what they perceive to be the perfect fit of the clothing, and which women, normally, have. These women are nothing to be admired or even envied, but rather, if seen in person, would cause most sane people to proclaim, "She is way too thin!"

The other part of this realization was due to the work I had begun on this thesis, for as I measured the two people who I would be using as my models, I noticed that the perception of thinness has more to do with height than weight. For example the average high fashion model has measurements of 33-23-33 (Miller, Susan. Newsweek, June 17, 1996: 66). These measurements on a woman of average height (roughly 5'2" world wide) would appear quite normal, if only slightly lean; however, on the average fashion model (roughly 5'11") they produce an almost anorexically thin appearance.

By contrasting the heights of the two models in Construction, I have chosen to reinforce this concept. One is 6'1" in height, and the other is 5'6". But seven inches difference in height is not the only issue at work here, nor is it the most central. To start, the taller model is a male.

In my original concept of Construction, I had intended to enlist the help of two or three teenage boys to act as models, the idea being to exaggerate the similarities between their physiques and those of most female high fashion models. I would then contrast them with both my sister and myself. Unfortunately, the only teenage boys with whom I am even remotely acquainted are very straight and would not even consider wearing women’s clothing. Since I am, however, acquainted with a few gay men, I asked Stephen, a friend of my sister, to be my model. Stephen not only is blessed with a lovely height, but he also is very thin, and looks wonderful in drag.

As I made the measurements of both he and Marissa, my sister, I realized that, with the exception of his narrower hips, Stephen’s measurements were almost identical to Marissa’s, so I further revised my concept and limited my models to the two of them. When one sees them in person, one would never guess that their sizes are so similar, and I am sure that this is not entirely clear in the piece; however, I believe the point is still made, for the difference in their sizes continues to play into the notions of artificiality vs. the natural which I have established.

Construction is divided into three rings, the outermost of which consists of five photographs of Stephen wearing five dresses. The photos were manipulated on the computer to look more like a fashion magazine spread and to slightly soften Stephen’s features -- something I wanted to do to make his sex more ambiguous. This manipulation reflects the manipulation of actual fashion photos, where imperfections are eliminated or skillfully minimized to the point of disappearance, thus presenting the viewer with an entirely artificial concept of reality. No one is that perfect. No one is that unfailingly beautiful. I also chose to enlarge the photographs to 24 by 31 inches in order to overwhelm my viewer, just as the photographs in fashion magazines tend to overwhelm the average female reader. These same five images, after being printed out of my computer at 8 ¹/₂ by 11 inches, were then laser copied twenty times each and hung around the gallery walls between their larger counterparts. This multitude of repeated images soothes the viewer and becomes reminiscent of film footage rolled out onto the walls. Further, by pinning all of the photographs to the wall with the same straight pins which I had used in the making of the dresses, I was able to both create a reference to the actual dresses, and also to symbolize the construction of the image which has been idealized and presented to the viewer. At the same time, a reference to the process undertaken by a man in order to make himself into the perfect woman is subtly established. In Paris Is Burning, a documentary film about the New York drag scene of the 1980’s, it is remarked that the goal of a drag queen is to look as much like a real woman as possible -- ironically becoming the epitome of artificiality, and establishing the basis for this outer ring of imagery. While one of my gay friends has told me that this is true only of the New York drag scene, the whole idea of drag continues to support my thesis.

The next ring consists of the five dresses which Stephen wore in the photographs, and are presented on wire mesh forms hung from the ceiling at his height. This is the transition ring, for it lacks the fulfillment of a torso, focusing on the dresses themselves, and their role in creating an artifice. The wire mesh becomes a substitute for the angularity and hardness of the male body, which the dresses then attempt to conceal and change, but cannot achieve. Here is the plight of the "drag queen," who puts on a veneer which the reality does not fill, and so is left somewhat incomplete and transitional. However, this ring, and the use of the hollow, unimposing forms, also presents the viewer with a group of objects which are traditionally associated only with females -- the formal gown. There is no article of clothing, no outfit or uniform which is entirely male, yet here is something which is only associated with women (or at least the image of woman). Even the signs on restroom doors, when catering to the illiterate, represent the women’s room with a figure wearing a dress. So then, if the viewer is unaware that the form underneath the dress is male, or that the model in the photographs is male, s/he automatically assumes these articles were made for women. By juxtaposing the male torso with the female uniform, an ambiguity is created which allows the viewer to question the exclusivity of that form of costume to only one sex.

Finally, the innermost ring is composed of the same five dresses, made this time to Marissa’s proportions, and displayed on dressmaker’s forms which have been wrapped in muslin and padded to further fill out the dresses. In this ring is represented the most natural version of female, a costume made for and worn by a female figure, presented at a more normal height. The dummies are solid, creating a more defined image, yet are padded to be soft like the female body. Here is where the proportional differences between height become obvious, for the dresses in the middle ring, created to be worn by a tall figure, present a different impression of the wearer than do those here. This woman is average to stout, while the wearer of the other dresses is very thin. However, the former could possibly wear the dresses made for the latter. This female does not fulfill the media construct of the ideal, yet she wears the costume constructed for that ideal.

When the dresses are regarded separately, they become sculptures all their own. By utilizing the drab, earthlike colors, not only is the theme of the natural echoed, but a feeling of militancy also emerges; perhaps a militancy of pressing an oppinion, but also militant as in uniform, for the most common uniform throughout history has been that which is worn by the military. Styles have changed, but since the invention of organized warfare, it has been there. Thus the dresses echo the word uniform and present the modern uniform of the female.

The dresses were also an opportunity for me to explore another opinion of fashion designers themselves. Contrary to popular belief, I feel that fashion designers, the people around whom the whole industry revolves, are artists. They do not create solely for the purpose of making functional clothing, but rather to express themselves and the wearer. They are sculptors, using the technical skills of form and composition, and presenting their creativity in semi-annual coordinated performance pieces. Only when the clothes are taken out of context and placed in a gallery environment does the artistry become apparent. This is what really motivated me to do this piece. I wanted to use the clothes not as clothes, but as sculptures which are part of a larger whole. I wanted them to be seen as artwork, and as a part of a piece of artwork. And I wanted them to be my own. I designed them. I constructed them.

Hence the title. Everything about this piece is a construction: the photographs are constructed to look like they do, the costumes were constructed from drawings, the wire mesh forms were constructed around Stephen’s body, the dummies were constructed to more accurately reflect the size of the dresses, the whole installation was constructed to fulfill a requirement, fashion designers construct sculptures out of fabric, and the image of human beauty is constructed by the media in general.

I do not intend for Construction to be a negative statement. Nor do I intend for it to be a call for change. I think, instead, that it is more of an acknowledgment of modern reality. It is a recognition that this is how it is, and it is a conscious decision do so. It is an almost yogic identification and acceptance of what is there, in both myself and the fashion media, of the common love and need for costume and show, and of what has been coined as "alternate sexual lifestyles." I have found some peace with these issues, and I think that this, above all else, has been the point of the whole project.