The Right Stuff: Fashioning an identity through clothing in a junior school

Abstract

This article explores the key role played by clothing as an expression of individual and collective identity amongst 10-11 year-olds. The data arise from an ethnographically based study of one junior school in the south-east of England between October 1998 and June 1999. The article proposes that a relaxed enforcement of school uniform created a space for pupils to use clothing as a means of gaining recognition, of generating common bonds, and of sharing interests and intimacy within the peer group cultures. There is a specific concentration on boys' cultures, and it is argued that clothing and footwear was used as an important component in the construction, negotiation and performance of masculinity. Certain items and brand names acquired a specific, symbolic value, and pupils who attempted to dress and conform to the school rules and regulations ran a high risk of being stigmatised and subordinated. These pupils were also partly policed and controlled by homophobia.