" T O D R E S S "

D R E S S -  "put on one’s clothes, wear clothes in a particular way or of a particular type, decorate (something) in an artistic or attractive way,  clothing, especially the visible part" Oxford Dictionary online

"The concept of nudity and dress are burdened with implicit moral and cultural connotations as well as the subjectivity of the viewer... nudity is entangled in a multitude of ideas about the self and the other often pejorative to a greater or lesser extent, and inherently misconceived."  Frederick John Lamp Dress, Undress, Clothing, and Nudity

Lamp suggests that scholars such as Joanne Eicher and her colleague Mary Ellen Roach-Higgins refer to  dressing  as being a "medium" of "body modification and body supplements."

"Modifications" can be interpreted as changes being made to such things as hair, skin, muscles, teeth and such radical changes as plastic surgery techniques.

"Supplements" were referred to as being "enclosures, attachments to the body, attachments to the enclosures, and objects held in the hand."

this kind of dress however is not the kind in which you use to completely conceal but rather as an aid to conceal and to embellish.

The complete opposite of 'D R E S S' is to be 'U N - D R E S S E D a complete rejection of any form of adornment or embellishment, no make up, no pain on your nails, no moisturiser or antiperspirants. As Lamp suggests in his writing on 'Dress, Undress, Clothing, and the Nude' "it is hard to imagine a human being who does not dress the body in some way...hence to be human is to dress, and to dress is to be human." In saying this to be "undressed" is to be "naked" and that is a totally acceptable human state, and to view nakedness is to appreciate the human form, It is natural to lust after the form and an erotic aura is only natural when considering nakedness and nudity but what I try to instill in my work is an appreciation rather than desire or sexualisation. I try to create an understanding that the nude female form is an object and this is through the rejection of personalisation through a face or personality.