From the cradle to the coffin underwear comes first.

Soooooo, what have we learnt in our tighty whities?

Well, i've learned that i enjoy the freedom of wearing less clothing but still crave the protection and added layers of my psych that it provides.

I've also learnt how much i really rely on clothing to define myself, which is not a good or a bad thing but i is just something that i should remember for myself in future. It's a kinda chicken or egg dilemma....

Wearing underwear is an expression of your masculinity. it says, "here, look at me and what i have."

"The new man is many things-a huminist ideal, a triumph of style over content, a legitimation of consumption, a ruse to persuade those that called for changed that it has already ocurred."

(Chapman 1988)

So there, i did it. two weeks in my bare essentials. What do ya think?

I don`t take myself seriously any more. Sometimes I just garden in my knickers and platform shoes.

So here we are... day 8 and i've shucked off everything but my undies. Thankfully it is warm enough to do so. 

Today I realised, from reactions, that guys are not really supposed to be running around in their knickers... it's the women who should be doing so and for the pleasure of the men. Are the gender biases so strong that the image of a male package with little more than fabric covering it are so offensive? When faced with this reality in front of you and, for a lack of a better phrase, in flesh and bone, do we shy away from our own sexuality and desire? Does the presence of this 'body', sprung from the pages of magazines really make us that uncomfortable with ourselves that we deny our own identity, whether it be a straight or gay or even undecided. Does looking mean that you are taking interest? Sooooo many questions spring for this particular day.  However, in the fashion publishing world, the opposite is true:

"Fashion photography has entered a new phase of controvoersy with the sexual preoccupations of the 1990's:post feminism, the new masculinity, ambivalence towards homosexuality, and sexual well being. As a result, men have become the object of desire and the subject of fashion."  (Craik 1993)

But the question is: why has this attitude not trickled into actual everyday life? What changes between the pages and the practice? It seems that today i just have questions and no answers. 

Is it about nudity? i think not. Is it about Sex? perhaps. Is it about desire? Yes, but not completely. it's the effect that the desire has on the identity of the individual. the direct connection between 'who i am' and 'what i want'. For some, the answer might not be what they feel is acceptable, for others it might be comfortable and natural. Fashion photography provokes viewers and consumers into confirming their own identity through structures of desire. (Craik 1993)  So, when in doubt, 'LOOK AWAY' seems to be the antidote. just avoid the question, avoid being faced with the 'gaze' or using the 'gaze'. just don't look. But if you are going through all of this looking away you are bound to, at some point, smack into something. Whether this 'something' is naked or clothed, male or female depends on which way you were leaning when you looked away. but the real question is, ARE YOU GOING TO LOOK BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE?

Stay tuned....

Day8...I think there's something incredibly sexy about a woman wearing her boyfriend's T-shirt and underwear.

The items in question:

Blue boxer briefs (Emporio Armani)

Skin.... lots of skin.... (Vaseline :) )

What in heaven's name is strange about a grandmother dancing nude? I'll bet lots of grandmothers do it.

Good old calender girls.... We have a very...um... superficial bond hahahahahah go watch the movie.... it's good stuff!

DAY6&7...Domesticity has to mean nesting. Otherwise, six months go by, and you don't know where your underwear is.

SO i have dedicated the week end to being naked.... 

In the privacy of my own home that is!

Now, i live alone and am seldom naked. I'ts almost a force of habit to put on some clothes after a shower or to wear a towel around me when it's hot. I have never really second guessed this... untill saturday and sunday came.

Even the most domestic of chores became awkward in the beginning. I also had to be aware of open blinds and windows and answering the door. But for what? I was not sinning! I was not having satanic rituals.... I was just enjoying the nakedness of my own body. which was very freeing. 

As steele suggests:

"Underclothes are secret garments, hidden under the outer clothing just as the body itself is hidden, to be revealed only in the privacy of the bedroom in the presence of intimate friends."      

(Steele 1989)

I assure you there were no 'intimate friends' although i did reach a certain level of comfort with my nakedness (granted i have a full length mirror in my passage so i had to)

And now the evidence.... Please excuse the nudity....

 "Nudity is who people are at the most interesting point of the evening, when they take off their protective layer, when no one is watching."

Bridget Fonda

"No nude, however abstract, should fail to arouse in the spectator some vestige of erotic feeling, even if it be only the faintest shadow - and if it does not do so it is bad art and false morals."

Kenneth Clark

Well, now that it's out there i feel a weird sense of relief. I might just go to sandy bay and parade around in my new found comfort.

Stay tuned for explicit content.......

Day5...Benji usually tries to match his hair with his underwear, and you know how he had the pink hair for a while well we caught him in a pink thong

Today Was a bit of a difficult one for the underwear brigade... I had to do a fashion show and so spent the whole day in hair and make-up and wardrobe so was unable to fulfill my objectives....

HOWEVER!!!!

During our wardrobe change i we all shared a dressing room.... Now, usually this would bug me. Contrary to popular belief i am a private person who likes to keep some things private and his privates even more so.

But when we were all told to "Change" I felt extremely at home just shukking off my gear and getting on with it. this surprised me as i would usually never change in front of others in a sirtuation like. But low and behold i got my kit off. And os did everyone else and we al did it without missing a beat. Vive le Underwear!

"One component of the new etiquette was the emergence of the "shame frontier". Untill the sixteenth centuary, the sight of toatl nakedness was an everyday rule for bathing and for sleeping. Both activities were communal-people ran naked through the streets to the bathhouse."

Elias (1978)

IN HONOUR OF YSL.....

So today was business as usual. People are getting used to the idea and i'm getting more comfortable with it. I think that once you've seen the semi naked body enough times you get kinda immune. The random comments ever now and again about covering myself up etc are getting less. I feel freed. havn't worn actual clothes in four days. WEIRD. But i'm getting to the point where i feel that i miss them. not the coverage they provide though, just the little bit of extra that they add to the way i feel and the way i project myself. 

"Mr. Saint Laurent revolutionized modern fashion with his understanding of youth, sophistication and relevance."

Yves Saint Laurent:

So, in honour of my YSL boxer briefs, and Mr Saint-Laurents contribution to fashion, i've decided to look into some issues surrounding self-expression through fashion and clothes.

"At a general level, fashion is a technique of acculturation-a means by which individuals and groups learn to be visually at home with themselves in their culture... fashion relates to particular codes of behaviour and rules of ceremony and place."  

 Craik (1993)

I've felt very unable to express myself fully without seeming invasive or rude. i feel vulgar and out of place. As Craik suggests, fashion is a means of being visually at home with yourself. being outwardly comfortable with the inward feelings. i feel semi-disconnected from my feelings in my underwear. It feels as if i'm saying that i'm purely a sexual being. I have no access to my particular style of dress that tells people, i have taste, i am intelligent, i am not colour blind and most important of all, i do not take myself and my intellect too seriously to not care what i put on my back.

As Craik further suggests:

"Fashion is often thought of aa a kind of mask disguising the "true" nature of the body or the person. It is seen as a superficial gloss. Yet, if we follow Mauss and Bourdieu, we can regard the ways in which we clothe the body as an active process or technical means for constructing and presenting a bodily."  Craik (1993)

And i suppose that achieving synchronicity between the body and the mind is the ultimate goal. feeling angry and following the lead of the animal kingdom by signaling warnings with black and red or suggesting inner and outter peace with neutral accents. And as Craik proposes:

"The 'life' of the body is played out through the technical arrangement of clothes."

Stay tuned....

DAY4...Half the world does not know the joys of wearing cotton underwear.

The items in question....

White T-Shirt (woolies)

Black Boxer briefs (Yves Saint Laurent)

APOLOGIES!!!!

I have been out of action for 4 days interms of internet access.... but what follows are the updates....... Enjoy

I HATE THE WHOLE RELUCTANT SEX-SYMBOL THING. IT'S SUCH BULL.

The biggest insecurity i had today was being so exposed and not looking like the dudes who sell this s%*t to us. IBut then i realised, my body is not bad. I look after myself, i don't have an inch of fat and my scars are part of me, fat people wish they had my body. SO WHAT! But the thing is i'm young, almost still a boy but not really. And as Bordo discribes:

"...we seem to have different rules for boys and men... The more languid, narcissistic, come hither poses (in pictures) are of boys and very young men. Once a certain ageline is crossed-if the ad is depicting (and addressing) a full-fledged male citizen, a developed subject rather than a developing one- phalic mastery becomes a requirement."

She goes on to state:

"in these poses, the naked male body is martial, confronting, challenging, not at all "passive" "Yeah, I'm in underwear," the bodies seem to be saying, "Wanna make something of it?"

Bordo(1999)

So..... i have quiet a lot to think about before my next 'strip show'... stay tuned.

POWER IS SOMETHING THAT CAN BE ASSUMED OR DISCARDED AT WILL LIKE UNDERWEAR

Yet another day spent scantily clad... Today was interesting as i pushed both my limits of comfort and the limits of those around me to the maximum:

People really didn't know how to react. they would look, then look away and then look again. but this time really look... gaze... As Jeremy Bentham (1843) describes the objective for his desine for the perfect prison, is that the structure must allow for maximum observation. Furthermore, Eintwistle (2000) explains Foucault's take on this:

"This structure is used by Foucault as a metaphor for modern society which he saw as "carceral' since t was a society built upon institutional observation... with the ultimate aim to normalize  bodies and behaviour. Discipline, rather than being imposed on the 'fleshy' body through torture and physical punishment, operates through the establishment of the 'mindful' body which calls upon the individual to monitor their own behavior."

Eintwistle (2000)

In practice i had to monitor how i acted around people, how much of my body showed, how close my crotch was to them. It was as if they were saying, "i'm okay with you being naked, but do not bring your nakedness into my comfort zone."

Further more, I felt SOOOOOO out of place, but after a while it just became second skin around the people who had seem me already. Foucault agrees with me on this point:

"Once power has been invested in bodies, there inevitable emerge the responding claims and affirmations, those of one's body against the power... of pleasure against the moral norms of sexuality, decency... power, after investing itself in the body, finds itself exposed to a counter attack in the same" 

Foucault (1980)

So i realised that the ideas of power, discourse of power and reverse discourse of power actually do apply outside of the theoretical sphere..... BTW i got kicked out of KFC today for being indecent.... the nerve!

DAY3... UNDERWEAR SHOULD BE WORN ON THE INSIDE

The items in question...

Boxer-briefs (Louis Vuitton)

Hotel Slippers (Stolen)

I MAY HAVE A FEATHER-DUSTER DOWN MY PANTS

"Are you wearing your Hugh Heffner pyjamas today?" came a comment from a friend. Having chosen more weather appropriate pyjamas today i found myself dealing with interesting new issues. My gown was closed in the name of modesty, however, when it did occasionally fall open the show of skin was met with cat calls and teasing. This was not directed at how out of shape i was though... The attention was directed at a more 'southern geographical region'. Which got me thinking, is it sexual because i'm wearing pyjamas or does wearing pyjamas make it sexual?

"Why is the partly clothed figure often percieved as being sexier than the nude?

Underwear provides an important clue. In the apparel industry, underclothes are known as 'intimate body fashions', a highly revealing expression. All clothes are body fashions, but the more intimate the connection between body and clothes, the sexier the clothes will be... the sexual power and charm of the body 'rub off onto the clothes. But the clothes are then percieved as providing an additional erotic stimulus of their own."

(Steele 1989b: 55-6)

Seriously... and just as i thought it was my undeniable, um, charm?

"Women's desire is foreground through the sexually

appealing image of the man. The female audiance is invited 

to take sexual pleasure in objectifying 

the man, thus acknowledging active female sexuality."

(O'Shaughnessy, Stadler 2005: 340)

You know you want to sneak a peak...

Stay tuned...

DAY2... SAME OLD SLIPPERS, SAME OLD RICE, SAME OLD GLIMPSE OF PARADISE...

The items in question...

Long johns (found object, very Duchamp)

Grey gown (Woolworths)

Slippers (traditional afrikan dress :) )

LOOK WHAT I FOUND.......

"With National Underwear Day, we focus the public's awareness on underwear in the spirit of grand celebration. National Underwear Day is the day when underwear becomes not just the first thing you put on and the last thing you take off, but the most important thing you wear all day. So, make sure you're wearing a fresh pair."

So i missed it, but i am doing penance by doing it for 2weeks! 

Go check out the Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEL_f9t-6N8&feature=fvsr

Get off your ass and get down here to fix the goddamn biggest disaster in the nation's history.

"What strikes me is the fact that in our society, art has become something which is only related to objects, and not to individuals, or to life."

Michel Foucault (kick-ass frenchie)

THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PYJAMAS...

IT WAS F-ING COLD TODAY!!!!!!!! But I survived and managed to function in my pyjamas without many hassels. Let me just say that pyjamas don't have pockets so i had to carry stuff around... VERY irritating! I did however, paradoxically feel extremely comfortable in the actual garments. But very out of place. Very vulnarable and extremely self conscious about my body.... which raises the question: DO YOU HAVE TO LOOK LIKE THE DUDE BELOW TO WEAR PYJAMAS/UNDERWEAR?

Answer to follow... stay tuned.

I'm not selling sex. I'm selling underwear and jeans, and I'm not trying to do it with pornography.

As such it can be seen as something more than a garment of clothing, something linked to morality... However, this conventional story of increasingly 'body liberation' can be told differentlyif we apply a Foucauldian approach to fashion. (Entwistle, 2000)

DAY 1... I do have a lucky pair of pyjamas...

The items in question... 

Hotel slippers (stolen)

Boxers (Banana Republic)

EYEWEAR

Proof that I do wear clothes.... nice clothes.... expensive clothes... clothes clothes clothes!!! Farewell dear friends...

HUMILITY IS LIKE UNDERWEAR: ESSENTIAL, BUT INDECENT IF IT SHOWS

There is nothing in the world (save for certain sinful things) that I love more in this world than clothes. My eyes twinkle, my heartbeat quickens, I love wearing beautiful things and looking amazing. The clothes maketh the man (or something like that?!?)  But in my case I use clothes as a distraction from my (possible) dry personality or lack of interest. Being naked is being vulnerable. However, seeing as Nudity would not be appropriate I am taking the next best thing: Underwear and Pyjamas.

 

Naked or semi-naked bodies that break the cultural conventions, especially conventions of gender, are potentially subversive and treated with horror or derision. (Entwistle, 2000)

 

So by being semi naked and in the state closest to being naked, I hope to explore my levels of discomfort.

THE RULES:

• I must wear only sleepwear or underwear (from head to toe)
  
• No day clothes, shoes, scarves etc.
  
• I may wear a t-shirt to prevent legal action.
  
• I may wear underwear underneath my boxers to prevent ‘penis fall out’
  
• I must continue with my daily routine as per usual
  
• I must, at least once, wear only underwear.
  

 

Bodies which do not conform, bodies which flout the conventions of their culture and go without the appropriate clothes are subversive of the most basic social codes and risk exclusion, scorn or ridicule.(Entwistle, 2000)

 

And so it begins! Simper ubi sub ubi (always wear underwear)

 

“Underwear makes me uncomfortable

and besides my parts have to breathe.”

Jean Harlow

 

OK.... SOME QUESTIONS BEFORE WE START:

There are a few things I neglected to consider before commiting to this PJ's business...

a) Will i feel wildly out of place amongst clothed people...

b) When should I be donning the PJ's

c) chould i wear underwear underneath the PJ's to prevent the occasional fall out?

Answers to follow after consideration.

I HEREBY CLAIM THESE BOXERS FOR BLOGDOM!

Thing is, people look much better naked, I sleep naked.  We're all the same colour and we can’t screw up. You see someone at the gym and they look great. Next thing the pants come on and it's like, WTF. This might seem like my first post about PJ's is kinda not making sense, but for the sake of the common prude on the street, i've decided to replace my bare-skin sleepwear with some good ol' cotton whitties (and furry slippers to match...) My only question is; do i still have to brush my teeth?