Digressive Thoughts on The Fingerprint of the Second Skin
Identity theft
I was intrigued by the basic premise of this article, that individual garments are “imprinted” with a history and “signature” and as a result function as another skin. I found this to be a simple and intriguing concept. Our clothing functions as a covering, a form of protection, but also as a membrane that bears traces of all of your physical peculiarities: your gait, stance etc. The twenty-six wear- features” that Dr. Vorder Bruegge identifies provoked both my interest and my fear. Human fingers plant these traces —the maker—and once they are embedded, they grow and change along with you. Your clothing is alive: your clothing will betray you.
Other Membranes…
On page 164, Hauser states, “a commodity is labor crystallized in an object.” This concept —along with the idea of clothing having a “self-identity”—made me think of the enlivened, at times monstrous pods/game controllers in Cronenberg’s eXistenZ (99). In order to jog its memory and cure the controller's software virus they are forced to uncover its origins.
From Whence It Comes
Last week when looking for a place to eat, my friend suggested a restaurant where the food was “happy.” It was a strange moment of translation, but it ultimately I understood it. We arrived at an organic restaurant where everything was free-range, grain fed etc. It was this general sense of their “happy” lives — or at least happier than most in their positions—that enabled us to consume with less guilt and more ease. We knew where they came from and the conditions under which they lived...