Constructed
Detailed
Alluring Aura
conceptual
Piece Description
This jacket is a symbol of how men are generally viewed in society - toxic, violent, and masculine. And the truth is, society’s perspective isn’t wrong, as toxic masculinity is rampant and a problem in today’s world. As a guy, I have always felt the societal expectations to ‘be a man’ and ‘toughen up’; one that is dominant and powerful. This is a double-edged sword where one side helps me be more socially acceptable to other males but simultaneously hinders me from being accepted in society. Feeling helpless and lost, I feel like many men don’t even know how to respond. Sometimes it feels like society is just putting words in our helpless mouths. Just because I can’t confidently and vocally communicate my perspective, I fashioned my viewpoint using visual communications through Constructed to present to the public.
Compositionally, the jacket is a representation of toxic masculinity through the holistic perspective of both men and society. On the front, I designed the jacket from a society’s perspective towards men: cold and aggressive. Using materials such as metal mesh, pieces of jewelry, and wires, I crafted spikes to symbolize danger and aggression; and the metal meshing as a shoulder plate represents men shielding their emotions.
Contrast to the metallic embellishments, the back illustrates the male perspective towards toxic masculinity. The painting of an abstract male drowning conveys how men can feel helpless and lost. Desperately sticking his hand out of the water reaching for help, I wanted to represent the struggles as a male, feeling split, from trying to please both men and society.
I wanted to portray this piece as my exaggerated perspective of being a man and how society sees our gender. To illustrate this, I’ve made the front look as intimidating as possible and have included horns. Horns in nature are an animalistic trait to defend and injure, so by adding it, it bolstered the aggressiveness on the jacket. But when people see me as a male, society tends to focus upon the negative aspects of men that I’m not proud of.
Through this project, I believe that there needs to be more understanding about toxic masculinity in an open-minded manner, so we can learn that this concept is not about men’s violent tendencies, but rooted further back in our culture. A culture that equates masculinity with physical power and dominance, and one that rejects vulnerability and sentiment. In reality, we’ve constructed, the male gender will unavoidably believe that they are failing at being the ‘right type’ of male, further fueling the stereotype of the toxic male stigma.