Toni Kelly Frye
Communication
Capstone Title
Stripped
Description of Capstone Project
I was five years old, my mother recalls, when I scolded her. We were in my sanctuary, aka my Barbie room, that was filled with five perfectly curated Barbie homes, four shiny Barbie cars, and what felt like over one hundred Barbies. This was not a usual act for me to scold my loving mother, it was simply due to the fact that she dressed one of my dear Barbies in the wrong outfit. Some may call me anal but to me, each Barbie had their own personality and characteristics, and what they wore (or what I dressed them in) represented their individuality. And because I spent a good amount of time developing each Barbies identity, my mom was simply unaware that day when she came to play with me, that putting a tiny red cocktail dress on the Barbie who had a tom boy nature would be unacceptable to my Barbies and I. This marks the time in my life when I began to consciously develop ideas that dress and identity were associated with one another. Stripped is a an art book that explores the relationship between clothing and identity and how women’s daily dress decisions can reveal aspects of their personal identity within society.
