Downtown Laides Fashion

Chapter 7 of the Downtown Ladies reads of different types of fashion and the connotations of those fashions. Ulysse writes of different styles of fashion in Jamaica. Ulysse's equates a persons fashion to the where they may fall on the scale of whiteness. She writes of her experiences with her own fashion and molding into certain fashion stereotypes to be able to function in day to day life.

After visiting Cuba and in relation to this chapter in the book, I find that wanting to have flashy clothing is common among lower income individuals. While in Cuba, after talking with new Cuban friends, they all seemed to have jewelry, a flashy shirt, or shoes that stood out. It would never be an outfit as  a whole that looked expensive but rather single items. Ulysse seems to be experiencing the same thing in Jamaica. I even asked one of my Cuban friends why everyone seemed to have a gold necklace or the women big gold earrings and he responded by telling me that people will save up months maybe years to get those things because it makes them feel better. It is a statement that they have achieved something that the next person has not.

In Ulysse's section, "Making a statement", she writes of an incident at the bank. She writes of having trouble with the teller giving her money because of the way she is dressed. She writes, "After getting through her, the teller took one disapproving look at me in my gym shorts and T-shirt to say that it was not possible for me to make withdrawal, as this is not my branch" (229). In that moment, Ulysse is being stripped of her identity because of the way that she is dressed. Ulysse is saying, identity is marked by the appearance of an individual. Like in the story of the women at the funerals, they are defined as being inappropriate therefore their grief for the deceased is now marked as in genuine or not as legitimate. It reminds me of rape culture and the idea that if a girl dresses a certain way, she was asking to be sexually assaulted. In this situation that Ulysse describes, the women are being described as inappropriate and then not taken seriously, when in reality they are just imitating what they believe to be whiteness.