Here I come again to pitch you another Viceland docu-series that you need to be watching: "States of Undress."
Via TV Guide
That is, if you haven’t already jumped on the bandwagon that is A+E networks and Vice media’s newest venture into the world of television. In a media environment that has more new TV than a person can consume in a lifetime, cable’s newest (and at times hardest to categorize) channel has stepped up to create series that are insightful, captivating, and truthfully a little unexpected.
Between "Gaycation" (whose virtues I talked about previously), "Balls Deep," a delightfully weird series where host Thomas Morton injects himself openly into a lifestyle and tries his best to learn about and understand it (the episode where Morton goes to Dearborn, Michigan to celebrate Ramadan is one of the best examples I’ve ever seen of a reporter actually listening to Muslims about their own religion and customs), and "Weediquette," a surprisingly poignant look at marijuana and all the uses, stigmas, and communities that stem from its properties, the channel has had some quality effort right out of the gate.
Via Creative Review
That’s not to say that I’ve loved everything they’ve put out. As much as I love food, I couldn't get into "F*ck That’s Delicious," where rapper Action Bronson searches for good food while he tours or "King of the Road" purely because I’m not into skate culture. That being said, feel free to watch and disagree with me! Documentaries make for notoriously subjective viewing.
But back to "States of Undress." The show follows host (and NYU alum!) Hailey Gates as she travels to six different countries to explore fashion across the globe. But it’s not just the usual suspects. Gates travels to fashion weeks (or attempted fashion weeks) in places such as the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo), Venezuela, and Pakistan, among others.
Via Isioma's Style Report
The result is an intriguing look into a culture through its clothes, both the mundane and the avant garde. Gates attends high fashion events and talks with designers, but her interaction with everyday citizens and her exploration of how fashion plays into their circumstances is where the show truly shines. A hairdresser in the DRC, Russian women attending a dating seminar, a Palestinian woman who surfs in her hijab, and many other small business owners and private citizens create a cast of characters that fully explores the ways fashion manifests itself into our cultural identity, in ways that are both uplifting and heartbreaking.
Via Viceland
As much as people tend to write fashion off — a whole other subject in and of itself — it really reflects many of a culture’s main ideals, something the show seeks to explore from beginning to end no matter how frivolous or significant the segment. What we put on our bodies is directly correlated to global economics, beauty ideals, political climate, and cultural identity. At times it is a political statement and at others it is a personal one, and many times they are one and the same. "States of Undress" is well worth watching, if not only to look outside our own ideas of fashion, but hopefully to remind ourselves of its cultural power and presence in lives across the globe.
