The basic project description is to test the limits
of a very specific market as to: 1.) its potential liberalness towards
subjectivity, 2.) its corresponding relation to socio-political organization,
and 3.) its possible condoning of transgression as a "safety valve". Empirically,
there was a necessity to test past theses on the inequalities produced
through a market and the junction of democratic, republican, and communal
theory as it pertains. It should be noted that this is an extremely nuanced
realm, and that this project's aim is not to approach the environmental
or organizational (specifically labor) problems of this market but to
observe a specific response towards differing subjectivities. Albeit,
those organizational and environmental problems are present, present.
The events transcribed, hereafter, are transcribed from memory July 2006 - Washington District of Columbia, United States of America Stores Consulted: Gia & Co: Zara: Max Azaria: bebe: French Connection: Anne Taylor Loft: Maxx: United Colors Of Benneton: Barney's CoOp: Filene's: Hechts Gia & Co: [after wandering around in the Georgetown Shopping Mall for twenty-five minutes, a mall which seemingly has escalators/stairs which only go up and maps which relate schizophrenically to space, we were unable to find the store; disappointed and disoriented we left] Zara: [upon entrance, no sales associate approached us, H and J proceeded to shop, however none of the clothing was appealing, we then left due to the poor construction of the clothing and lack of service] Max Azaria: [browsed for a bit, clothing completely not J's style although H enjoyed some of the articles, not approached by sales associate] bebe:[sound of browsing] Sales Associate 1: [short, quasi-attractive, curt demeanor, mid-twenties] Hello… let me know if you need any help [Acknowledged by both of us] [some chatter between H and J about what kind of dress to look at, a few are picked out one red, one black, both very slimming, low cut, and deep v-necks; no sales associate has assisted us so our approach must change, J and H walked towards sales associate 2 to ask where the dressing rooms were] Sales Associate 2: [tall, very attractive, intelligently dressed, mid-twenties, glasses, J would have asked her out had he not been buying a dress, not really as he is to shy] Hello, did you want to try those on? [asking H] H: Yes, we were looking for a dressing room. Sales Associate 2: Okay, it just right through here [as she turns her back J follows with the dresses and is led in to the second dressing room, when she turned around and saw J, she was surprised but did not mention a thing, according to H she smiled as she walked away] H: Can I see the dress yet? J: Just be a minute. … [two minutes pass] J: Heidi,… H: Yes… J: I think this dress is too low cut, and my scar showing makes me nervous. Did you want to see the dress? [J steps out of the changing room for H's inspection] H: [giggling] It doesn't look so bad. J: We'll, I am uncomfortable with this much of my scar showing. H: Now we know you need a higher cut, but it fits you! What size is that? J: um… six. [J gets dressed, we leave the store, on the way out the sales associates briefly glance at us] outside the store: J: I think we need to change how we are approaching the situation. The sales people are automatically approaching you, because of their normal interactions. H: If they ask me if I need any help, I'll Just tell them that we are shopping for a dress for you. J: Sure, sounds great Ann Taylor Loft: [we enter the store and are immediately confronted by a sales associate] Sales Associate 1: [early twenties, blond, attractive but wearing a headset cell phone and flip-flops] Hi, how are you …are you looking for anything in particular? [to H] H: Yes, we are browsing for a dress for him. Sales Associate 1: Okay, take your time. [smiles in an overly nice way] … [we both decide to split up and browse for a bit, H points out a nice dark blue and turquoise dress that is high cut in the front with a tie around an empire waist] H: I think this one is cute! You should try it on! J: Yeah, I should try it on, but I am going to ask the sales associate my size. H: Yeah. [walks over to Sales Associate 2] J: Excuse me, … Sales Associate 2: [early twenties, dark hair, looks a bit put off by the prospect of another day at work, writing something at the cash register] Yes. J: I wanted to try on a dress but I was wondering what size I would be? Sales Associate 2: [perplexed and then steps out from behind the counter to eye me up and down] You look like either a two or a four, but try the two first. J: Okay, thank you so much. J: [to H] She says I am a size two or four. [H smiles at the sight of a rather awkward J, giggles a bit, we grab the dresses and head to the changing rooms] H: That's great, this is going to look great. [inside the changing room the size two is definitely not going to fit, nor the size four] H: [sitting on a small chair outside of the dressing room] Sales Associate 1: [walks in and gasps with surprise] Oh! Sorry, I didn't know you were in here. H: That's okay I'm just waiting. [a good deal of time passes, as it is hard for J to try on the dresses, as they seem so delicate] J: Heidi, none of these fit, they are too small. H: Wait and I'll go get a six [H comes back with a larger size, and it fits] J: So, what do you think? [does a little curtsy and a pose] H: Come outside of the dressing room and look at yourself in the mirror… I think the dress looks great… it is your style to. Oh! You look so cute!! [the dark blue and turquoise dress we both agreed looks fabulous and we are set on buying it except we notice a small tear in the fabric] H: I'll get the sales person to see if they have another in the back. [H leaves] [H comes back] H: Alright. Now I'm going to look for a dress for me. [H leaves] Sales Associate 1: Hello [puzzled]… J: Yes. [from inside the dressing room] Sales Associate 1: We did not have a size six in the back. J: That's okay maybe I'll just keep looking, thank you. [J leaves dressing room] J: Did you find a dress for yourself? H: No, did they find another size? J: She came and told me they didn't have one H: That sucks because you look so good in that dress. Okay, are we ready to go? [we both agree in unison] [on the way out Sales associate 2 stops us] Sales Associate 2: We can order the dress from another store if you would like. J: No, that won't be necessary, but you wouldn't happen to have it in a six regular would you? Sales Associate 2: Sorry, it only comes in petit. Do you want to put is on hold? J: No that's okay. Thanks. Sales Associate 2: Have a nice day. [H and J leave] outside the store: H: We could try and see if they could give it to us at lower price. It was such a nice dress for you [giggles a bit]. J: No we can just keep looking. H: Alright, but we may have to come back. Maxx: Sales Associate 1: Hello, can I help you? [to Heidi] H: Yes, we are actually looking for a dress for him. Sales Associate 1: Oh, okay. The few that we have are on the wall in the middle of the store. Take your time. H and J: Thank you. [sound of browsing] Sales Associate 2: We do not have many dresses right now. Its between seasons. J: Oh. Sales Associate 2: Its funny, I have a degree in theater and every year I help put on the drag ball at the L [something?] Theater in Maryland. J: Really … Sales Associate 2: Yeah, you have guys with full on beards wearing dresses and its like okay it doesn't really go with the chiffon, but what are you going to say. What kind of dress are you looking for? J: Something casual, perhaps of a material to be worn everyday, except the top has to come up high because I have a really long scar on my chest. Sales Associate 2: That may be a problem, one of my friends has a scar on her chest too, from open heart surgery. She finally just gave up after a few years and said there is no way around it and now wears the lower cut garments. She says as long as she does not have a tan it doesn't show up too much. I also had a friend who got bit by a shark, and has these teeth marks that are exposed in a dress. Nobody would believe her about the shark though. J: Really? H: You wouldn't happen to know of any other places which may have a dress like that … Sales Associate 2: You may want to try Filene's or Loehmann's, they usually have large selections, there is one on 13th and G street downtown at the Metro Center stop. And then there is … … Good luck, I hope you find something. J and H: Thank you so much, that was a big help. United Colors of Benneton: [we browse for a bit but their air conditioning was not on and it was a very hot day, we jetted out of there] Barney's Coop: [the store we knew was awfully high priced but we went in anyway] [inside the store we browsed and then headed for the discount rack, there J found two dress that looked so outside his taste that he had to try them on, one had a huge orange and pink flower on it printed off-center and the other was pink with a purple belt, both flared out really far] [J is holding the dresses] Sales Associate 1: [young male] Would you like me to put those in the dressing room for you while you browse [talking to H] H: Umm … [looks at J] no thanks. Sales Associate 1: Well, let me know when you would like to try them on. H: Okay. [H and J continue to browse] [J and H approach the dressing rooms] Sales Associate 1: Are you ready to try those on? [H looks at J] [he starts walking to the dressing rooms with H and J following] [when he unlocks the dressing room J enters the room, the sales associate is caught off guard, but says nothing] [H sits outside of the dressing room on seating provided] Sales Associate 1: How is he doing in there? H: Oh I think he is doing fine. J: Heidi, none of these dresses fit, they are way to small, I can not even get the belt around. [J puts the dress on a rack outside of the dressing room] H: You are not even going to show me. J: Heidi, they were double zeros for some reason. H: We'll I am still disappointed that pink one would have been great. [they head out of the store and thank the sales associate] outside the store: H: Why don't we try Filene's, it's a large department store so they should have many dresses, and it is a little higher scale than Nordstrom. [we chat for a while over lunch at a French style café, then head downtown] Filene's Basement: J: I do not know about this, they are in the middle of remodeling and it is just to crazy, plus I do not see any dresses. H: I think you may be right, but what should we do you said we weren't leaving today without a dress, and I am not going back to Georgetown. J: It will be all right. [as we leave we see a Hecht's across the street] J: What the hell, why don't we try the Hecht's. H: Okay! Hechts department store: J: Where are the dresses? [to H as they look at a map of the store] H: Level four J: This is probably the nicest Hechts I have been in. H: Yeah, it is quite clean, I think it's a Macy's now. [on the dress level] H: look at all of these dresses we are sure to find something. [… browsing and chatting …] [we have collected numerous dresses and begin heading for the fitting room in the dress department] Sales Associate: [elderly African-American lady, conservatively dressed] Excuse me only she is allowed in the dressing room. You can't go in there. J: But I was going to try them on. Sales Associate: [puzzled] Wait, who's going to try the dresses on. [H is smiling at the awkwardness of the situation, the discomfort of J and the Sales Associate] J: I was. Do I have to go to the men's department? Sales Associate: Yes, because only women are allowed in there. J: Okay [nervously] Sales Associate: It is on the third floor. [H and J begin to head to the third floor] Sales Associate: Wait. Maybe you could try them on in the boys department, over there. J: Okay. [further distraught as trying on dresses in the boys department seems like it is asking for trouble] [H and J head toward the boys department] [J tries on dresses until he finds the one, well the two, and then narrows it down] [H tries to find one of the dresses in a smaller size] Sales Associate: How is he doing? H: He is just having trouble finding the right size. Sales Associate: [smiles and acknowledges similar issues] […] J: Heidi, I think I have found the dress. How does it look? [The dress is a turquoise color, cut above the knee with thin straps. It does show off the chest scar, but not too much, it has a pattern on it in white beads] H: It looks good and fits really well, although it is not something I would have ever imagined you picking out. J: I think this is it, it looks and feels great. … Do you think that I need to shave the legs to go with it? H: You could buy tights. […] |