As I was preparing to write this post, I became curious about fashion trends throughout history that we, as modern people, might consider fantastic if there was no evidence to support their existence. One example is lotus shoes, which can only be worn by women with bound feet; foot binding was an ancient tradition for Chinese women until it was finally outlawed in 1912. Another is stiff high collars; these were worn by English men in the 1800s and were stiffened with copious amounts of starch. The detachable collars were so tight that many men died from asphyxia—in one case, a man was nearly decapitated due to how stiff and tight his collar was. In some Eastern cultures, there is the neck ring; over time, this ornament compresses the shoulders, ribs, and clavicle, creating the illusion of an elongated neck—after a certain point, neck rings cannot even be removed due to health risks.
But what exactly makes these things feel fantastic? Is it the willingness of the wearers to mutilate and endanger their own bodies for the sake of being fashionable? Is it the negative effects of these trends? Is it the cultures in which they are spawned? I asked myself these questions as I reread “A Change in Fashion.” As this story goes on, we see the dresses growing larger and larger, but how big does a dress have to get before it can be considered fantastic? Consider the crinoline skirts and panniers of the 17th and 18th centuries; some women couldn’t even fit through doors or ride in carriages. We see Hyperion design all kinds of strangely shaped dresses, but is this really so fantastic when you consider some of the wacky designs that have graced the runway (or anything Lady Gaga has ever worn) over the years? Even when the women’s bodies become completely concealed by the dresses, is it really so bizarre to imagine when there are women in the Middle East who are forced to cover themselves from head to toe every day?
I might be alone in this, but apart from the house-sized dresses, I hesitate to call this story fantastic. A month ago, I probably would have, but living in the midst of a pandemic has caused me to reexamine many of my previous ideas about what I consider to be plausible.
It’s interesting to consider fashion trends in relation to the fantastic. I like that you point out fashion in different cultures and how they might seem fantastic to us if we weren’t aware of them. We might think the English fashion trends of the 1800s would be fantastic, but they likely would have considered our fashion choices to be so, as well. For all we know, the most outrageous thing we can think of today could be normal attire one or two hundred years in the future.
I also agree with your opinion that this story doesn’t necessarily feel fantastic. I just posted about “A Precursor of the Cinema” and how the form of the story made the fantastic feel like just another part of history. I think the same can be said here; even though these dresses seem over-the-top, the story reads like some kind of paper or article talking about the history of fashion trends.
Have you ever looked back at old photos and wondered what was he/she wearing and why? I find it hard to believe that in today’s world where anything goes as far as fashion that it is much fantastic in this story (even in 2008 when the book was published). I agree with you Mary that other than the house-sized dresses this story fails as being fantastic.