Andrea Zittel's "A-Z Six Month Personal" in Comparison to Focault's Docile Bodies

Andrea Zittel’s A-Z Six-Month Personal Uniform is a conceptual gimmick that challenges society’s expectation. While working in the Pat Hearn Gallery, she was faced with the constant expectation of having to dress chic and fashionable. Although the expectations were high, her salary was not as high. She began to knit her own uniforms to wear to work. This became known as the A-Z Six Month Personal Uniform. The styles were mostly practical and accommodated the cold and the warmer weathers. Eventually she began to step out of her comfort zone and began to design clothes with certain ideas in mind. Her phase with wearing rectangular clothing formed the next project “A-Z Rough Uniforms.”

 

“Sometimes if you can’t change the situation, you just have to change the way you think about the solution.”

Her project, “A-Z Six Month Personal Uniform” fits perfectly under the definition of this aphorism. When one cannot change his situation, he can, instead, think positively about the solution and the situation itself will also change, too. In A-Z Six Month Personal Uniform, Andrea Zittel changed her solution, which placed the entire situation in a brighter light. Instead of doing what most people would have done, which is to shop for nice clothing, Zittel designed her own attire. This solution in fact made the entire situation whimsical. Zittel created her own uniforms, which allowed her to save money on her part, as well as design whatever she wanted. I believe in the very moment she decided to rebel against society, she in a sense, won the rights to this aphorism

 

I feel as if there is a direct proportional correlation between Andrea Zittel’s action in creating the uniforms and Docile Bodies. In the sense that Zittel is the prime example of an individual. She created her own designs for clothing because she did not want to spend money on new clothing all the time to look chic and fashionable just like all the other Gallery employees. Instead of fixing the situation at hand with the ideal solution, Zittel decides to make her own clothing. Focault speaks about how the mass creates individuals in Docile Bodies, Zittel becomes this example through her work. She breaks out of society’s norms and creates a gimmick that makes her an individual, thus proving Focault that the only individuals are created from the masses. Society has existed beforehand and have set the standards, but to be an individual, one must break this set of discourse. Zittel breaks the discourse by thinking differently. Instead of an ideal solution, she chooses her own solution. Her solution sheds light on her individualism, which challenges society and the fashion industries.