Fashion and its Importance in an Increasingly Surveilled State
It’s a classic feeling, being watched. Humans know oftentimes, because of instinct and intrigue and all of those inherent gut-chemical feelings. It’s unnerving to be pulled loose from the fibrous realities we exist in, to be reminded so feverishly of the unknown boundaries within our government’s surveillance, the boundaries within technology.
Two key facets of our US police system seem to be the main focus of the previous few decade’s tax dollars and private funding; Militarization and Surveillance. While the militarization of the US police system resulted in equivalent condemnation and protest, it has proven to be an ugly, and deadly fight. The reality is, the government is not backing down on their end. With Trump as the new president elect, it feels very ominous, daunting.
It doesn’t feel like the land of the free.
Surveillance is not so black and white.
Tech’s evolution has come of age within most of our lifetimes, and the continued expansion feels exponential - a pure capitalistic wet dream. For other Americans, it can feel like a major invasion of freedom and privacy, a means for continued control over the Prison Industrial Complex, and the targeted oppression of non-whites in the United States.
Surveillance today has two obvious access points to gain knowledge about everyday Americans; the internet and the real world. Hackers, scammers, traffickers, and tech savvy teenagers have found ways to conceal themselves online, and now there’s currently an entire market selling Americans access to supposed cybersecurity measures - though it’s clear many of these companies keep logs and store data which could potentially be requested by the government. There are certainly protective measures to be taken, but the idea of true cybersecurity feels more hopeful than guaranteed, especially for an everyday person with little knowledge about computers.
It’s interesting to watch Americans feel distrustful of surveillance within our own country, but, as seen with the recent TikTok ban, feel a nonchalance when it comes to other countries like China, or even our own country, using civilian online data. There is a sense of breached trust when citizens are surveilled in the real world, but most of us have accepted that online footprints exist, and many of us realize that free apps sell our data as the product. There is often a lack of impact, at least directly felt by social media users in America, when their data is sold to foreign governments. There are, however, very tangible and direct impacts that United States surveillance has on its citizens, directly impacting how freely civilians feel they can move throughout the real world.
This real world conundrum has a fashionable solution, though it may be short-lived depending on AI’s involvement and the ease of tracking potentially increasing.
Dressing to be unrecognizable, dressing to change your identity, to erase parts of yourself is a concept that seems to live conditionally through each century, conditionally in its attribution to each donner. When the choice is made by the wearer themselves, and not at the pressure or forces of any external factor, it can be quite beautiful - I often think first of costume design. Dressing for entertainment, in theater, film, the confines of one’s home, there is a natural stage for the costume wearer to reside on. The intention is clear, the audience is aware: the person in garb is performing.
The concealment of identity lies much more on the fringes of unclarity when it is perceived in the real world, where the public social composition is up to interpretation, and decorum hinders on such deeply personal understandings of this. It’s a gray space for a population who continues to decline in sociability, people who don't want to ask questions, if they even find themselves curious at all. Over the past few months, through small interactions with friends and ex-lovers, I’ve found myself coming back to the same thoughts about this direction fashion could head in, and the implications of designing for our surveilled state.
The Sephora Seasonal Savings Event
Early November marked Sephora’s annual storewide sale for all members, and as a frequent shopper of the local African beauty supply, I didn’t have access to the storewide sale until a later date. I normally wouldn’t care, but I had my eye on some YSL mascara, so when my best friend called me one day rambling about the sale, it all aligned perfectly in my head. She gave me her member code but warned me that she would be using it the same day at a different location, a location that knew her well enough to know that I (bleach blonde and white) was not her (dark haired and Egyptian). She questioned if being such a frequent purchaser may warrant her picture in their system. I left the call seemingly being the more rational friend, but I thought about her perception of the event, and what I knew both of us had seen on social media over the past few years.
My friend's paranoia wasn’t completely unfounded, as companies like Sephora and Target utilize a surveillance tracking system for petty theft. Sephora Loss Prevention Investigator applications require staff to use CCTV to “identify, observe, and apprehend” customers believed of stealing from the store. Observation is a key player. The urban legend goes that Sephora and other retail chains will track your theft until they can build a felony case, in some states that would mean over $500 worth of goods.
Her advice was to dress like her, pull my hair back with a hat, and pretend I was really sick (really pale). I didn’t think it would matter that much, and it didn’t - as far as we know.
The Tracking of Non Violent Petty Criminals in New York City
Investigation Cards (or I-Cards) are the NYPD’s latest tool for tracking and surveilling New York citizens with probable cause of committing or witnessing a crime. This “card” serves as a sort of profile on an online database accessible by the NYPD, listing identifying information as well as the person’s address and previous/current supposed criminal history. When tools such as these are used to target non violent, petty criminals like shoplifters or graffiti artists, two forms of criminal activity that directly correlate to social and societal unrest within a major city, it only increases these repeat offenders' chances to do the same things again and again. In missing school or work, often missing opportunities for school or work, these people are left in the same or worse position than they started. Depending on when the NYPD decides to make their arrest, it can lead to detriment in people’s lives. Similar to surveillance in Sephora, it would likely make more sense - profit wise - to let the case against certain people continue to build, and once the NYPD feels they have a big enough case, looming over past cases of similar offenses with probations and orders against these non violent crimes, they bring these people down further, like sharks playing with their food.
The Ever Popular Themes of Surveillance in the Art World
Fashion and art continue to explore and express these themes as the world continues to do the same. Miguel Androver does a lot of photography and styling work of his own that dissects wild depths of identity, his Uncertain Future photo series displays mannequins as the subjects, but all aspects of the styling and image capture make them look human. Mesh fabrics, elements reminiscent of metal fences and window screens, makeup and masks all concealed identifying factors blurring the line between human and plastic.
A viral clip on Instagram showed people in Ukraine wearing full-coverage mesh face masks to completely hide their face in public. Supposedly a style choice for a music video being filmed, it is interesting to see how Ukrainian artists are dealing with the very real impacts of surveillance during wartime, as well as American reactions of such attire, gloomily wondering if the masks might become a societal norm.
Laura Allcorn put on a performance art piece surrounding 2022’s AI updates of gait tracking surveillance, utilizing each human’s naturally unique gait characteristics to further identify and track citizens. This particular performance consisted of volunteers walking around downtown Manhattan wearing reflective materials with fringed details and workout gear like resistance bands that hindered visibility and changed the wearer's gait. This ongoing piece is one of many that interact with both technology and humans by use of reflection and guise.
No Face No Case Restrictions
In Atlanta, and other US cities, balaclavas and ski masks as garments have gone through immense scrutiny by government officials, proposing banning the attire in public settings. While the ban in Atlanta did not make it through court due to concerns over racial profiling, cities like Philadelphia and Camden, NJ have enacted these bans. The banning of such attire seems to hinge on the first constitutional right to free speech, and it hasn’t proven to be an effective tactic in fighting, stopping, or preventing crime. In the end, there is no considerable evidence suggesting that any certain article of clothing will turn the wearer into a criminal, though laws like these only validate the people who assume they do.
What might the future hold?
There are already great clothes that hold a lot of power when you look at them in terms of surveillance. Reversible outerwear, clothes that can be compact and switched out, hair/head accessories, bags inside bags, and almost all winter accessories. I was dumbfounded to hear when an old acquaintance hadn’t thought of bringing a change of clothes to go paint when he’d had an I-Card out on him. He’d shown me some Citizen notification about him referencing the color hoodie he had on. He seemed revelated.
When the alleged shooter of Brian Thompson got away in a city that boasts its surveillance technology, many New Yorkers were shocked. The initial speculation that day, before any suspect was released, was all about his jacket, his mask, the bag. Wild debates ensued surrounding why his jackets looked different, how many jackets he had, if it was the right person at all. These are certainly all things the NYPD had to consider as well.
The art and fashion world has well begun their exploration with these themes, and I imagine this will only continue as surveillance tech continues expansion. Surveillance and fashion is a classic tale, a dance of many iterations; blending in can turn into camouflage, uniformity, survivalistic nature, while personal identity can turn into a privilege, escapism, freedom.
When using fashion as a lens to understand these impacts, it is important to consider groups in America that currently face forms of social surveillance within their community, how it impacts what they wear, and how their identity forms within that. This includes people experiencing gender queerness in states like Florida, people living outside the means to a legal or ethical income, or peaceful groups like the Stop Cop City protestors. Each unique circumstance faces various pressures from external, systemic factors that lead to different ways of concealing or changing one’s identity. Being watched in real life is anxiety riddening for most people, regardless of criminal activity. Clothing can be a valuable tool within this increasingly surveilled state, and the concealment of identity has proven to be a difficult thing for surveillance to overcome.
