To begin with, I should say that dress and appearance play an important part in people’s life. On the one hand, they help one to express his or her inner world resorting to this or that tool that is responsible for the creation of human beauty, on the other, they help people to get a general idea of their surroundings that may either evoke further interest to them or seize the existing communication once and forever.
To my mind, dress and appearance are equally important in writing literary works. As literature in this way or another is a reflector of human life, dress and appearance fulfill here the same functions of presenting the characters or events, revealing the characters’ inner worlds or the crucial details of events, and make the reader involved in what he or she is reading. Cecil Beaton’s The Glass of Fashion (1954) and Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psych (1991) are perfect examples of how these goals are achieved.
From the very first chapter of Beaton’s narration, the reader might guess that the author is somehow related to the photography: he seems to present a set of photos from the fashion show when the postwar glamour was at its height. The reader is provided with the most detailed description of various items of the fashionable clothes of the Edwardian period. The description is given in such a way so that the reader gets the feeling of being among those who wear this or that cloth. The French words that are used throughout the text add the French chic to the description. Though the French terms that denote clothes seem a bit obscure at first glance, the author’s description that comes afterward clarifies their meanings to the reader.
Though some might claim that the avalanche of descriptions of fabric, texture, or color stultifies the writing with unnecessary references, I am inclined to think that the use of numerous descriptions is rather justified, as it does not only give the reader an opportunity to get some insights in the history of fashion but inspires one to make some deeper research as far as this or that cloth is concerned.
As for the second work under consideration, in the chapters titled Morning and Harry are the authors give a detailed explanation of the main character’s way of living by describing his day from the moment it starts. Actually, the reader seems to be guided by some doctor or anyone who is not indifferent to health issues. When one reads about the character’s likes and dislikes, gets to know about his habits and attitudes to various tendencies in fashion, he or she never assumes that it is a story of a self-proclaimed serial killer. I suppose that this is here where the main function of the author’s describing the smallest details from Patrick Bateman’s life is rooted. The author strives to demonstrate the contrast between the form and the content. The reader thus is encouraged to think of how cruel one might be despite the perfect appearance or exquisite taste that he or she possesses. The details create a drastic contrast between the character’s general image and his real intentions.
Though in both works the authors managed to provide the reader with a detailed description of things important for revealing the message, they differ in the impact the description has on readers. If in the case of The Glass of Fashion one is encouraged to better understand the issues covered, in the American Psych he or she gets a sort of disgust to the main character and is inspired not to become misled by the external, digging into the deepest corners of one’s soul instead.
Works Cited
Beaton, Cecil. The Glass of Fashion. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1954.
Ellis, Bret Easton. American Psycho. Vintage, 1991.