Tango Dress/Sense
178 Tango DJ, Pamda Bure is studying Fashion and psychology at the London College of Fashion. She is studying our relationship to and perception of how and why we dress the way we do when we go to a milonga. Please please complete this questionnaire and help Pamda build a fascinating study with your contributions. Click on her image to take you to the questions. Many thanks for contributing to Pamda’s research!
Taken direction from paper “Gender Comparisons Within Reenactment Costume: Theoretical Interpretations,” this study aims to investigate the differences between biological males and females in their reasons for dressing up to Milonga. It similarly aims to extend Stone’s theory of adult fantastic socialization and Eicher’s framework of dress, exploring the dressing for fantasy of the public, private and secret selves.
Whereas in the real world people dress up for the different roles they are in, to reflect who they are or who they want to become, altering what they wear according to personal short and long-term goals. Clothing choices can affect our image, the impression that we convey to others and in turn, the way in which people behave towards us. This is true for homelife, work, gatherings as well as Tango party or Milonga.
Tango is a sensual fantasy world, removed from the practicality of reality, whereas the motivation for dressing up could generally be assumed but never fully explored or documented. What prompts an individual to make an effort in dressing up and taking care of personal hygiene if the essence of going to Milongas is just to enjoy the dance or the tango music? Besides, according to an old milonguera (female tango veteran), you don’t just want to dance with someone because they are a great dancer, you want to dance with someone because they look and feel great too, and you definitely want to be chosen for a dance for both of the reasons.
The gender roles in tango are traditional and well-defined. Men are the leaders, whereas the women are the followers. As such, this study is limited to one independent variable (biological sex: Male and Female).
The literature review covered will be including the topics of motivation, enclothed cognition, sex and emotions.