a speech about fashion reveals your true identity

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Fashion Is Identity: discover the speech for Worldwide Talks 2023 by Fashinnovation

Worldwide talks 2023, “fashion identity it’s not only about what it’s made of, but it’s also about what the identity you want to wear and what impact you want to have”.

On February 7th and 8th, we took part in the 8th edition of Worldwide Talks 2023 in New York City.

A 2-day event, one fully physical and one fully digital, organized by Fashinnovation , a global platform that fosters innovation & entrepreneurship.

Worldwide Talks is a conference where Fashion, Technology & Entrepreneurship merge via conversations/discussions on various themes including design, sustainability, manufacturing, etc.

Our Head of Sustainability, Martina Schiuma , attended with her speech entitled “Fashion Is Identity: Unlocking the Power of Digital ID for Traceability”.

Fashion Is Identity: Unlocking the Power of Digital ID for Traceability

If you want to deep dive the topic and listen to Martina, click the video below.

Why “Identity” is one of the main reasons we wear?

Fashion is more than just an industry: it’s an identity.

When you go to buy an item of clothing, it could be a suit, a pair of shoes or a bag you want to communicate about yourself, about your identity.

It always has been and always will be. Fashion has always been a way for individuals to express their identity and style.

But do we know the story behind the clothes we wear? Do you know their identity?

According to the Fashion Transparency Index by Fashion Revolution,

only 10% of top fashion brands disclose information about where their products have been produced and the suppliers of their raw materials.

The fashion industry was not designed to be transparent, but this lack can no longer be ignored .

When we speak about identity, we should know the story behind the clothes we wear. 

As Vivienne Westwood said: “My clothes have a story, they have an identity, they have a character and a purpose. That’s why they become classics. Because they keep on telling a story. They are still telling a story.”

What impact do you wear? We don’t know!

“We don’t know what’s identity of what we buy. We don’t know where our clothes come from, and therefore, we cannot measure what is the impact of fashion on our society and our economy.”

The fashion world has an impact on the planet and we should know what impact we want to have by wearing those clothes and what identity we want to wear.

“It’s not only about what it’s made of, it’s about what the identity you want to wear and what impact you want to have. The reality is that there was no answer and solution to the problem because without Traceability, we are not able to take action. Without traceability we are not able to identify the owner of the process, which material, which chemicals . ”

At The ID Factory, we believe that fashion should have a positive impact on the environment and society and that we should know who is responsible for the problem.

We support brands to give them back the identity of the clothes thanks to traceability, supporting fashion brands and suppliers to collect entire information about the materials and processes used to create a product. 

Traceability is about having DATA , is about having reliable , high quality data coming from the supply chain to actually empower bands and corporates to identify problems and take action. It can have a positive impact on productivity, employee engagement, and worker welfare.

Data is the keyword in a fashion industry highly fragmented and globalized. 

Data will be key for the development and adoption of a common data language .

How to get this data?

The primary data reached thanks to smart tags allows for tracking of each material until the final process has been completed. By tracking the raw material flows thanks to the creation of unique digital identity that is linked to the specific product, specific piece textile until the final product.

This level of traceability ensures that the supply chain is transparent and that we can make informed decisions about the clothes we wear. 

Technology is a key driver for change: we need technology to change the industry for the better .

We believe that by knowing the story behind the clothes we wear, and the impact that the fashion industry has on the environment and society, we create a more transparent and sustainable world .

How The ID Factory can help your brand

If you want to discover our technological solutions for traceability and transparency, book a speed call with us for free.

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Do you see what I’m wearing? How clothes reveal who we are

Senior Lecturer, Visual & Creative Arts Education, University of Sydney

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Robyn Gibson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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Remember the social media storm about the colour of [the dress](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_dress %28viral_phenomenon%29)_? Did you see blue and black or white and gold? It was some harmless fun that drew in millions of online punters.

But clothes are not frivolous, flippant or foolish. In telling and talking about clothes, we reveal much about ourselves, our lives, and the experiences that we drape around our bodies. Whether bought or handmade, passed down or reconstructed, clothes help us to construct meaning as we remember those things in our lives that matter.

Apart from their aesthetic value, clothes have the ability to evoke issues of identity; of the relation of self to body and self to the world. We are able to find ourselves through the experience of delving into our wardrobes and remembering. Clothes are thus layered with meaning since they have the power to act as memory prompts.

So why are clothes often considered trivial, ephemeral and unworthy of serious contemplation?

While male fashion, at least in terms of mainstream trends, has become rigidly uniform, female dress has undergone chronic fluctuations in style. This penchant for change has been interpreted as either evidence of women’s inherent frivolity and flightiness or of their subjection and oppression.

Without losing its obsession with the new and the different, with change and exclusivity, I would argue that dress has become a form of popular aesthetics. Most fashion writers insist on its importance. Cynicism, ambivalence or irony are the typical responses from those outside the discipline.

Fashion’s significance was aptly summarised more than a century ago by Anatole France . The Nobel laureate said if he had a choice of one “book” to leave to future generations, it would be a fashion magazine. France affirms clothes are social barometers.

Crowds that are drawn to fashion exhibitions around the world offer glimpses into the meaning that we attach to such items. Often dress is collected and exhibited by an art gallery in order to give the general public an appreciation of the designer’s creative talent and inspire ways for the viewer to understand the garment’s fabrication, innovation and visual appeal. We are drawn to them as things of beauty we want to gaze upon and touch. Clothes are objects that we covet and desire.

While art may appear much more cloistered, more removed from people’s lives, fashion is clearly in the midst of things; very much a part of our everyday experience.

Once hanging static in a wardrobe or folded away in a trunk, in recent times clothes have found themselves thrown into the spotlight. How can we forget Meryl Streep’s biting explanation of cerulean to a fashionably naïve Anne Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada (2006)? Or the artistic integrity of Vogue’s creative director, Grace Coddington, in The September Issue (2009)?

Clothes have, in fact, become an autobiographical tool with which to explore important themes and issues in an author’s life. In Love, Loss and What I Wore (2005), the book behind the Off-Broadway show, Ilene Beckerman tells the story of her life through the clothes she wore. In doing so she reveals that our memories are often stitched into the seams of our favourite dresses.

In The Secret Lives Of Dresses (2011), Erin McKean interweaves a tale of vintage frocks that have their own “secret lives” written on pieces of paper and stashed into their pockets. In Dreaming of Dior (2009), Charlotte Smith shares her godmother Doris Darnelle’s vintage clothing collection that contain a lifetime of memories. Recently, in Dress, Memory (2014), Lorelei Vashti wrote about a decade of dresses she has owned, worn and loved. These narratives have come to be known as “dress stories”.

I have had the privilege of bringing together a highly eclectic group of dress stories ranging from narratives to photo essays to poetic pieces and many creative works in-between in The Memory of Clothes . Each one of these stories details a point in time when “clothes actually did matter” and as such were worth remembering.

Woven into their fabric are traces of past experiences. Stitched into their seams are links to people we have loved and lost. How appropriate that in the technical language of sewing, wrinkles are termed “memory”.

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The Psychology of Fashion – How Our Choice of Clothing Reflects and Shapes Our Identity

It’s morning; we open the wardrobe and choose the dress we’re going to wear today. It’s a normal gesture, of course, but it’s not meaningless. With this gesture, we have just confessed to ourselves and to others who we are or who we would like to be.

Have you ever thought about that? The psychology of fashion was born for this reason: to explain how our relationship with fashion is closely linked to our personalities.

The function of clothing

The desire to cover and adorn the body is documented across all cultures, even the most primitive.

Through the way we dress, we more or less unconsciously transmit to others a huge set of data: gender, age, racial and cultural belonging, our social role (let’s think about uniforms), belonging to social groups or ideological aspects, our economic position, the type of event we attend (formal, informal, joyful, or sad), and the type of behaviour we want to maintain (open or reserved). These data that we transmit induce in others a certain type of behavior towards us, essentially generated by cultural influences.

Imagine seeing a man dressed elegantly commit a crime, and another man, dirty and neglected, do the same. We will probably tend to react more politely to the first and more aggressively to the second.

Our identity is locked in the closet

The clothes in our closet say a lot about us. When we buy a dress, we do it to communicate our identity, or perhaps to emphasise a change in a particular stage of our life. The choices we make are a way to express our mood, our feelings, and our personalities, but also to hide and simulate another, in case the truth does not fully satisfy us.

An example? Let’s think of a very shy person who decides to wear aggressive, punk-style clothes. In this case, the dress will assume the function of armour in order to protect and defend us from the outside and from the judgements of those around us.

Every garment and every accessory are clues: the fabric, the pattern, the colour, but also the height of the heel, or the size of a hat.

The history of fashion: a new discipline

The history of fashion studies the origin, causes, and evolution of clothes over the centuries.

The way people dress becomes a symbol of historical eras, social changes, the birth of new classes, and protest movements.

In the past, the way of dressing, the quality of fabrics, and their manufacture indicated the class difference and the distance between rich and poor. Today, with industrialization and the mass production of clothing, there is greater uniformity, both socially and culturally, but there remains a need to differentiate and use dress as a form of non-verbal communication.

Recent research on men of power has highlighted how these individuals tend to choose and consistently maintain a way of dressing that becomes their characteristic, and distinguishes them – a kind of uniform that shows their identity and consistency with themselves.

Choosing clothes to communicate with others

The choice of what we wear allows us to communicate something about ourselves to others without speaking and allows us to manipulate our image to bring it closer to our ideal. It is a way to fill a sense of inadequacy, compensate for our fears, and facilitate our integration into a group.

Any practical examples?

• Choosing an excessive look, mixing different colours and styles, can be a sign of insecurity, a desire to hide a sad side of us that we do not want to make known.
• Choosing a simple and comfortable look can be a sign of reliability and authenticity of character
• Keeping old clothes is a way to stay linked to the past, especially to the periods we remember as positive and happy.
• Preferring new materials and natural fibres indicates that we are modern and independent people.
• Using clothes to hide us shows a desire to conceal our weaknesses and defects, real or presumed, from the eyes (and judgements) of others.
• Dressing in a neglected way indicates we have little respect for ourselves.

The choice of colours

The origin of the sense of colour dates back to day and night: blue is the night sky, suggesting calm and passivity; yellow is the light of day, symbolising hope and activity. If red symbolises attack and conquest, its complement, green, represents defence.

Behind the choice of a colour to wear are not only the influences exerted by the fashion of the moment but also the traits of our personality. Moods can also affect the preference for a certain colour or rejection for another, not to mention that a colour can represent different emotions and moods: think of red, the colour of love , fire, blood, communicating vitality, power, energy, intense feelings, and warmth. But it also has a negative meaning; it is also the colour of the devil, anger, and aggression.

The choice of strong colors such as red, yellow, orange, or white indicates a strong personality and great self-esteem. Green, brown, and blue are preferred by individuals who do not like to stand out.

The choice of purple indicates a sensitive soul, while black communicates a great variety of messages: elegance but also confidentiality and, worn by many on many occasions, can also express a certain degree of conformity.

A dress as therapy and to stop the passage of time

Devoting time and attention to self-care can be an excellent therapy to improve mood and increase self-esteem. When the mirror gives us a pleasant image of ourselves, relating to others becomes easier and more pleasant. Especially if clothes are not used to hide something from us, but to emphasize what are the strengths that we all have.

And not only that, clothes are able to slow down the race of time. Today more than ever, perceived age tends not to correspond to real age. We feel, and above all, we want to appear, always young. Therefore, we can choose a fashionable and casual look for all ages, bright colors, and accessories always trendy, to please us and please others!

Annalisa Balestrieri holds a master’s degree in modern literature with a psycho-pedagogical specialisation from the State University of Milan.

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Beyonce's 2016 CFDA Fashion Icon Speech Is Perfect

You. Will. Be. Moved. Beyoncé received the 2016 CFDA Fashion Icon Award in NYC on June 6. The singer and Ivy Park guru, who accepted the award from fellow icon and designer Diane von Furstenberg and wore a sparkling, pinstriped Givenchy pantsuit to the event, was honored for the indelible and undeniable mark that she has left on fashion. However, Beyoncé's heartfelt 2016 CFDA Fashion Icon speech , in which she spoke about her grandmother using her seamstress skills as currency to pay for her mother Tina's Catholic school education, really and truly revealed the deep and lasting impact clothes have had on her identity and her career for years .

In her thoughtful speech, Beyoncé not only name-dropped Game of Thrones . She repeatedly referenced her mother Tina, pointing out how hard she worked and how she has always shaped Bey's style.

She also shouted out her uncle and the designers who traffic dutifully in this field, nodding to their artistry. In a single speech, Bey was able to prove that fashion isn't frivolous fluff. Fashion is how we express ourselves, is how many people make a living, and is how we leave a visual mark on the world. She was able to change the conversation about fashion by placing it in a real world, life-shaping and IRL context.

Every word that the singer said had measured weight and worth. It was effective and economical. She said what she needed to say and stayed the course and on topic beautifully.

Video of the speech is below.

See the full transcript of her speech, as well.

Thank you so much, Diane, for the things you just said about me. I feel so much love and I feel so proud. As long as I can remember, fashion has been part of my life. Its effect on me actually started before I was born. Many of you guys don’t know this, but my grandmother was a seamstress. My grandparents did not have enough money, they could not afford my mother’s Catholic school tuition. So my grandmother sewed clothes for the priests and the nuns and made uniforms for the students in exchange for my mother’s education. She then passed this gift onto my mother and taught her how to sew.

Starting out in Destiny’s Child, high-end labels didn’t really want to dress four black country curvy girls, and we couldn’t afford designer dresses and couture. My mother was rejected from every showroom in New York. But like my grandmother, she used her talent and her creativity to give her children their dreams. My mother and my uncle, God rest his soul, made all of our first costumes, individually sewing hundreds of crystals and pearls, putting so much passion and love into every small detail. When I wore these clothes I felt like Khaleesi. I had an extra suit of armor. It was so much deeper than any brand name.

My mother is fabulous and beautiful and she’s here tonight. My mother, my grandmother, and my uncle are always with me so I cannot fail. My mother actually designed my wedding dress, my prom dress, my first CFDA Award dress, my first Grammy dress, and the list goes on and on. And this to me is the true power and potential of fashion. It’s a tool for finding your own identity. It transcends style, and it’s a time capsule of all of our greatest milestones. So to my mother, my grandmother, my uncle, thank y’all. Thank you for showing me that having presence is about far more than the clothes you wear and your physical beauty. Thank you for showing me how to take risks, work hard, and live life on my own terms.

I want to say thank you to every designer who works tirelessly to make people think they can write their own story. Y’all are fairy godmothers, magicians, sculptors, and sometimes even our therapists. I encourage you to not forget this power you have or to take it lightly. We have the opportunity to contribute to a society where any girl can look at a billboard or magazine cover and see her own reflection. Soul has no color, no shape, no form. Just like all of your work, it goes far beyond what the eye can see. You have the power to change perception, to inspire and empower, and to show people how to embrace their complications, and see the flaws, and the true beauty and strength that’s inside all of us. Thank you so much for this incredible award, I’ll never forget this night. God bless you all. Thank you.”

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The Language of Fashion: How Clothing Communicates Cultural Identity

The language of fashion : how clothing communicates cultural identity.

Fashion has always been a powerful tool for self-expression and a reflection of cultural identity. From the traditional clothing of indigenous communities to the avant-garde designs of modern fashion houses, clothing speaks volumes about who we are and where we come from.

Introduction: The Power of Clothing in Communication

Clothing is a universal language that transcends borders, cultures, and languages. It is a form of nonverbal communication that can convey a wide range of emotions, attitudes, and beliefs. Clothing can express our personality, our social status, our gender identity, and our cultural heritage. It can also serve as a form of protest, a statement of solidarity, or a symbol of resistance.

Fashion as a Reflection of Cultural Identity

Fashion is intimately connected to cultural identity. It reflects the values, beliefs, and traditions of a particular community or society. Traditional clothing, for example, is often passed down from generation to generation and is an important part of cultural heritage. It can also serve as a way to preserve and celebrate a community's unique identity.

Fashion designers often draw inspiration from their cultural heritage, incorporating traditional motifs, fabrics, and techniques into their designs. This not only helps to preserve cultural traditions but also promotes cultural exchange and understanding.

Clothing as a Tool for Social and Political Expression

Clothing can also be a powerful tool for social and political expression. Throughout history, people have used clothing to express their political beliefs, protest against injustice, and show solidarity with marginalized communities.

In the 1960s, for example, the civil rights movement in the United States saw activists wearing dashikis and other African-inspired clothing as a way to show pride in their heritage and protest against racial discrimination. Similarly, the punk rock movement in the 1970s saw young people wearing ripped clothing, safety pins, and other DIY fashion as a way to rebel against mainstream culture and express their dissatisfaction with the status quo.

The Future of Fashion and Its Role in Cultural Exchange

As the world becomes more connected, fashion is playing an increasingly important role in cultural exchange. Fashion designers are drawing inspiration from a wide range of cultures and traditions, creating a new fusion of styles that reflects the global nature of our society.

At the same time, fashion is also becoming more inclusive and diverse, with designers and brands embracing models of all shapes, sizes, and backgrounds. This is helping to break down cultural barriers and promote greater understanding and acceptance of different cultures.

In conclusion, clothing is much more than just a way to cover our bodies. It is a powerful tool for self-expression, cultural preservation, and social and political change. As fashion continues to evolve, it will play an increasingly important role in promoting cultural exchange and understanding, and in shaping the way we express ourselves and our identities.

How Clothing Choices Affect and Reflect Your Self-Image

Author, Artist, Founder of Women's Wellness Weekends

Your style and the clothes you choose reflect and affect your mood, health, and overall confidence. Scientists call this phenomenon "enclothed cognition", and Adam Hajo and Adam D. Galinsky, both professors at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, write in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology , write that enclothed cognition "involves the co-occurrence of two independent factors -- the symbolic meaning of the clothes and the physical experience of wearing them." The researchers had subjects perform tests while wearing a lab coat like medical doctors wear, a coat like painters wear, and while not wearing either coat. They found that subjects' sustained attention increased while wearing the doctors' coats in a way that their attention did not increase while wearing the painters' coats or no coats.

Similarly, Professor Karen J. Pine, of the University of Hertfordshire (U.K.) writes in her very short book Mind What You Wear: The Psychology of Fashion "When we put on a piece of clothing we cannot help but adopt some of the characteristics associated with it, even if we are unaware of it." In the studies Pine conducted, as related in her book, one participant admitted, "If I'm in casual clothes I relax and am tomboyish, but if I dress up for a meeting or a special occasion, it can alter the way I walk and hold myself."

That is what Lisa Stariha, The Body Empowerment Coach , tries to instill her in clients. She says it is so important to "Get up, get dressed, and never give up each day." Stariha, who often works from her home office, knows how comfortable it can be to work in yoga pants and a cozy shirt. But, she says, "to feel more beautiful, confident, and strong, you must change out of the yoga pants and put on clothes that give you power," just as Wonder Woman went from her Diana Prince uniform to her kick-butt Wonder Woman costume.

How important and empowering the right clothes, and even the right under garments, can be is one of the things my co-authors, Jean Otte and Rosina L. Racioppi and I mentioned in our book WOMEN Are Changing the Corporate Landscape: Rules for Cultivating Leadership Excellence. And Business Insider says that clothes don't just affect your confidence levels, they can affect your success, as "clothing significantly influences how others perceive you and how they respond to you."

In 2014, car manufacturer Kia took a survey of what makes people feel confident, a few of the things included in the top 10 list for women included: high heels, a little black dress, and designer perfume. For men, the list included: a freshly shaved face, a new suit, and a nice smelling aftershave.

Understanding the psychological dynamics of why the right-for-us clothing can contribute to our confidence, raise our self esteem, and help propel us in the workplace has become big business. Image, style, and branding consultants are hired by everyone from celebrities to the average Joe, with, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics more than 56,000 people claiming that as their occupation in 2014. Kim Peterson, of Uniquely Savvy, helps people champion themselves through personal brand and style analysis, body and color analysis, wardrobe analysis, personal shopping, and virtual style consulting for individuals, and more progressive businesses bring Kim in to do workshops for their employees on these self-empowerment topics.

So the next time you reach for those yoga pants or for that fiery red dress, ask yourself how will that clothing item make you feel and what is it saying to the world around you today?

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Fashion and Self-Expression: How Your Style Reflects Your Personality

Fashion and Self-Expression

Fashion as a mirror of inner identity, a historical journey through fashion and self-expression, the significance of individuality in fashion, expressing yourself through fashion, overcoming the fear of judgment.

Today we want to discuss fashion and self-expression. Have you ever considered the fundamental relationship between the apparel you dress in and the delicate aspects of your identity? Fashion is a powerful form of expressing oneself that reflects our personality, affects our self-esteem, and has a significant impact on our social relationships. It is not just about looks and trends. This essay digs deeply into the fascinating relationship between style and psychology, examining how your personal style is a potent means of expressing who you are as well as how it’s important for traversing life with authenticity and confidence.

Our clothing is a mirror reflecting our inner thoughts and emotions, a fact supported by psychology. What we wear carries considerable weight in how we present ourselves and how others perceive us. Fashion is not just about fabrics and designs; it’s a unique language that communicates our personal values, beliefs, and attitudes. Understanding the psychological factors behind fashion choices enables us to harness its potential for self-expression and personal growth.

Fashion’s function in self-expression is not a new development; it has a long history. Clothing has long served as a representation of social position, identity, and values, from the caste systems of Ancient Greece and Rome to the grandeur of the Baroque era. The 19th century brought accessibility, allowing people from all walks of life to experiment with style. The 20th century witnessed rebellions and revolutions in fashion, paving the way for the modern era’s diverse trends and self-expression.

To fully harness the power of fashion for self-expression, it’s essential to understand your preferences and what resonates with you. Embrace uniqueness by thinking outside the fashion box and experimenting with different styles. Accessories, such as jewelry and scarves, are potent tools for adding a personal touch. Quality always trumps quantity, and dressing for confidence ensures you feel secure in your choices.

Fear of judgment can be a stumbling block on the path to self-expression through fashion. To overcome this fear, it’s crucial to acknowledge it and take proactive steps. Trying out new fashion styles , focusing on personal comfort and confidence, and seeking support from like-minded friends and family can help you embrace your unique look.

Fashion is a meaningful form of self-expression, not a shallow hobby. We may communicate our identity, convictions, and ideals through it. By letting go of the worry about being judged, we may develop a look that truly reflects who we are and improves our self-esteem. Fashion is an effective means of communicating who we’re becoming and how you want the outside world to see us. Additionally, the appropriate instruments may make a huge difference, just like with any kind of art. That’s where Adat.ae Coupons and Almond Coupons come into play. Much like the carefully chosen elements of your wardrobe, these coupons offer you the opportunity to express your savvy shopping skills and appreciation for a good deal. Your style is your voice; let it speak volumes about the essence of your true self.

Read more fashion articles at ClichéMag.com Images provided by Deposit Photos , BingAI , Adobe Stock , Unsplash , Pexels , Pixabay & Creative Commons

Love lifestyle and fashion. Being an editor actually allows me to learn about all of the latest trends and topics.

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Masterchef mom of six jennifer maune on reviving a dream deferred, best tips for choosing the right dog breed for your lifestyle.

Fashion and Identity Analytical Essay

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Introduction

Fashion reinforces personal identity, fashion erodes individual identity, reference list.

The relationship between man, fashion and identity has always been intriguing. Man is in a constant search of identify, something that will make him unique and identifiable. A unique tool to enhance a person’s identity is fashion. Fashion industry is driven by creativity and as such results in many designs.

The debate in this issue is which of the two has a bigger influence on the other. There are differing opinions on this subject each with sufficient proof on the power and the influences that each has on the other. Werner (n.d.) argues that the search for personal identity is the primary preoccupation of the contemporary generation.

The drive towards identifying who a person is comes about due to fear and uncertainty of the person’s purpose in life. Thus identifying a specific persona becomes the key to personal development and growth in life. Werner continues to argue that the contemporary generation is deceived to think that personal identity is determined by the physical attributes in a person.

Many people take too much care of their physical looks and would go to great lengths to enhance their outward appearance in the effort to enhance their identity. In this regard, people are concerned with their levels of education and would proceed to acquire educational qualifications.

This is intended to improve a person knowledge and intelligence, therefore helping to form their persona identity. Other than education, people take great care how they dress. Dressing is taken as a mode of identifying who a person is. People who see themselves as official tend to dress officially all the times. People dressing style is also a way of trying to enhance ones identity.

A man may dress sharply to stand out in a crowd. Women, perceive themselves as beautiful put on make up several and adornment to enhance this perceived identify. Adornments and beautification are a means of enhancing a persons unique attributes and make them look different in a crowd. Werner (n.d.) questions this method of forming and identifying a person and says that it is quit deceptive.

A person identity cannot be formed by physical attributes and out wards appearance. Other important factors help to form a person identity. Such things are concerned with a person inner attributes such as the soul and are spiritual. Werner (n.d.) concludes that a person spiritual belief influences person’s attitudes towards life and generally, who a person eventually becomes.

MAS (2006) infer that it is impossible to hide a person identity as people are constantly giving out signs of who they are. These arguments purports that a person identity is somewhat inherent.

A person’s identity can be identified from the simple things that people do. Such things as email addresses reveal a lot about a person’s identify. Studying such physical attributes as fingerprints, facial expression, names and DNA configuration can reveal a lot about a person.

These things have in them cues that can be used to unravel a person identity. Thus, it becomes impossible to hide the real person. Any attempt to do so is deceptive. A person’s identity is associated with a good reputation. This means that identity is the foundation of reputation. A good reputation enhances a personal success in life (Werner, n.d.; MAS, 2006).

It guarantees a person better jobs, ease in career advancement, improved social status and allows the individual other privileges. MAS (2006) explains that attempt to hide a persons true self are disastrous and results in a person gaining a bad reputation the society and the disadvantages that comes with it.

From the arguments above it is important to note the formation of a personal identity is crucial. People general direction is driven by their personal identity.

The out ward look is just a reflection of an individuals identity, but not what forms it. How people look on the outwards is a reflection of their beliefs and customs. The spiritual faculties form a person’s beliefs and customs. These beliefs are unique to each person and thus help to form involuntarily the main character traits that make a unique identity in a person.

These characteristics are expressed in more physical ways such as dressing code and general mannerisms. These characteristics are what make people identifiable in a society and give us a persona different from other individuals. This is [personal identity.

The relationship between fashion and personal identity is peculiar. In this debate, the biggest question is which of the two has the greatest influence over the other or whether the two are mutually dependent. Fashion and human personality theorist all agree that each cannot exist without the other.

This is because fashion is way of dressing only expressible through people and the same is true for people: it is difficult to see people without looking at fashion. Thus, it becomes an interesting debate as to whether it is fashion that reinforces a person identity or vice versa. Fashion theorists are also aware that both fashion and personal identity are subject to evolution and thus keep changing with time.

As such, there is always a great confusion as to which of the two is the agent of the said change. The confusion arises from the fact that each fashion as well as personal identity seem to have an inherent ability to stand o its own. However, debaters of this motion do not realize that the debate always focuses on the mutual dependency between these two phenomena.

Ffion (2011) explains that the post second world war heralded liberalization and democratization of societies all over the world. One of the biggest marks of liberalization is the rise of a consumerism culture. Contemporary societies have acquired an insatiable habit of indiscriminately consuming and as such, producers have resulted to mass production.

The same is true for the fashion industry. People have acquired a taste for fashionable clothing and are consuming fashion products at an alarming rate. A look through fashion malls will reveal an existing insatiable appetite for fashion clothing as well accessories by people of all works of life.

Clothing since time immemorial has been the key towards unraveling a person identity (Ffion, 2011). Other than the obvious reason to cover nakedness and protects a person from extreme wearer conditions, Clothes are a means through which man communicates a powerful message about himself.

People use clothes as a means to enhance the message they want to portray to the society and hope that wearing these elicit the right response from others (Essay.org, 2011).

As such, people have to dress in the right way according to the character they want to enhance. Clothes emphasize the positions and roles that people play in the society. (Essay.org, 2011) compares fashion to art, which “sculptures and gives to its architect any form of creation the architects desires.”

As such, fashion reacts to the desires of the architects and thus gives back creative designs that are relevant to person’s character and roles in the society. Further more, fashion enhances the different gender roles that different gender plays in the society.

It gives clothes that define a woman as feminine, in response to the feminine character of a woman and masculine clothes that a man demands. As such clothes becomes a clear distinction between men and women. Thus, fashion is responding to gender identities.

Ffion (2011) argues that people use clothes “to celebrate personal identities.” People wear cloths that express a strong personal beliefs and character. Ffion (2011) gives an example where women celebrate their personal identity through clothes and explains they may wear floral and brightly colored cloths to appreciate their love for nature and their cultural backgrounds.

This illustrates that the reason why Marie-Ange Guilleminot made clothing items with remains of the material from the Hiroshima bombsite to express “her grief and sorrow and show solidarity with the family of the victims.”

Different communities have different dressing style unique to them. The Hindu community has their sarongs, while the Scot male proudly wears the kilt as a way of identifying one self as a scot.

The Muslim woman will wear the Hijab to portray a religious identity while a Nigerian will were a brightly colored outfit that portrays the African identity. These dressing style are a strong reflection of a person’s cultural identity and are deliberately worn by people to express their personal identity through cultural norms

Other than communicating whom we are, clothes have a very big influence on our personality. (Essay.org, 2011) explains that Business executive’s wears suit to while musicians and sports people will be more casual.

They want to enhance their personal traits that is concurrent with their profession. Grant (2007) agrees with this argues and adds that an “individual negotiates through the dress.” Fashion thus forms part of an individuals language. Clothing is a language that a person uses to relay to the outside world desirable message about who they are.

Ffion (2011) explains that Marina Abramovic tried to controversially prove that clothe cannot be removed from a person identity. Mariah stood naked in a street and watched people’s reaction to her nudity. Of course, people were astonished that a person could dare remove her identity and stand in public naked.

This portrays that cloths are part of us and they help strengthen a person positive reputation. Lack of clothes is thus taken as lack of positive dignity. As explained earlier persons identity is associated with a positive reputation that puts the person at an advantaged position in the society.

Removing cloths from oneself is thus assumed to be removing a person positive identity, which leaves one without an identity that results to a negative reputation (MAS, 2006). It thus can be conclude that removing of clothe is stripping oneself of personal identity as such leaving one naked (without an identity).

Winter (2004) also supports that clothes portrays who we are by highlight the works of Van Dyke Lewis, a fashion God father and scholar who has spent a significant part of his life studying fashion.

Winter explains that despite the fact that clothes identify which ethnic group people come from they also identify from which part of the world a person comes from as well as the people’s individual roles in the society.

Lewis, Winter (2004) explains, has spent his entire life studying the black African fashion. This race has a particular way of clothing themselves that enhances their racial background.

During one of his fashion research in London, Lewis has paid particular attention to all the black people in the crowd and was rightly able to identify from which part of the world each came from simply by observing their dress code. This is because each of these person carried with them a certain trait about them that betrayed from which city, town or neighborhood each came from.

Essay (2011) support this further and argues that a clothing is a reflection of unique personal attributes and that personal identity can be interchangeably used with cultural identity. Clothes are part of peoples culture. By choosing to wear certain cloths people have voluntarily chosen to portray their cultural identify and their cultural roots of a person.

Still pertaining to culture, there has evolved a material cultures, a liberal group of individuals who want to dress in ways that do not conform to traditional dressing codes.

These people want freedom to dress the way they want without being restricted to the conventional dressing norms. Clothes are a sense of freedom and a spirit of adventure. They were wear clothes that are outside their cultural boundaries to adventure.

Clothes become a way of breaking cultural norms and experiencing the world beyond (Essay.org, 2011). As such, the fashion industry is evolving and responding to this new class of individuals and gives them creative designs that are suited their free spirited selves. Other clothing adornments are other items of fashion that enhance a persons identity.

People are nowadays adornments to express their dissatisfaction with traditional cultural norms. Tattoos are a way of expressing a distaste with conventional rules and thus a way of seeking freedom. It is a way of bode modification that seek to celebrate a free spirited individual who has managed to break cultural rules (Sanders, 1998).

Suffice to say that fashion is the tool that reinforces who a person is. People use clothes not only to express their personal traits but also to identify themselves with different cultures.

Clothes are not just mere tools for covering nakedness but also protect the persona in the wearer. People deliberately choose clothes that suit their personal characteristics. They are therefore a branding tool, a tool that helps the individuals to appreciate, celebrate and reinforce personal identity.

As much as the power of the individual identify I emphases the power of fashion on the person cannot be ignored. Fashion still has its influence on the individual and to a great extent influences that a person becomes. This means that people respond to the latest fashion trends and thus try to align their identify to the dictates of these trends.

Human psychologist argues that human beings have tendency to change behaviors to fit in a certain context (Simply Psychology 2011). People thus change their behavior, attitudes, norms and beliefs fit in certain contexts. Such conformity is driven by the fear of rejection by a social group or the entire society. Conformity may be voluntary or involuntary.

Where it is voluntary, a person makes conscious choice out of fear and thus eventually changes behavior to be accommodated in a given setup. People thus experience an overwhelming sense of the group dynamics over individual identity and are attracted to the group. However, their personal identity is a hindrance towards finding a comfortable place in the group.

As such, they have to drop it and adapt what the social group ascribes to. When conformity occurs involuntarily, a person is either forced to adapt certain behavior as dictated by their roles in the society. In this case, people are forced to behave in certain manner that fits the group dynamic or risk rejection.

A student in a religiously affiliated school may be forced to change dress code to fit in that a particular school. A company may enforce strict dress and general behavior code for all employees to fit into the company policy. In such a company, formal dressing becomes the norm. Suit and ties are the every day apparel.

Therefore, all employees are forced to change their individual identikit in dressing. Involuntary conformity can also happen when a person lacks knowledge and thus seeks it from external (group) sources. In such a case a person is unknowingly influenced by social dynamics and eventually changes behavior as society dictates.

Conformity is prevalent in the world of fashion. This can be attributed to mass production of fashion labels that target mass sales. Marketing of these mass labels are enforcing a fashion sense to the unsuspecting public. Many fashion designs such as Versace, Christian Dior and others open fashion stores in many parts of the world to with the mass market as the target.

Because of the prestige that is associated with these brands people wear them not out of personal identity built because of the strong sense of fashion that comes with wearing them.

Bollier and Racine (2003) explains that “fashion permeates so many aspects of our lives that we fail to appreciate the social ecology that supports it” and as such has an enormous influence not only on the society built on the individual.

The industry it has an inherent power of creativity and thus produces fashionable garment with lightning speed and enforces the new fashion on people. As such, fashion industry thrives, on competition churning out creative design to protect its markets share and its brand.

As a result, several fashion labels have dominated the fashion industry. Many people in efforts to feel fashionable buy and wear these brands not in respect to their personal identity but in respect to fashion.

They want to feel that they belong to a social class that is conscious to fashion trends. Therefore, they will just move in any direction that fashion takes them. If the new trend demands wearing of faded jeans that id the trend they adapt. The same can be said of adornments.

Such kind of conformity has permeated into the American society. A look at the society will reveal that the individually is slowly but significantly loosing personal touch.

The individual in this society is slowly succumbs to the dictates of fashion so much that even the moral and cultural fabric of the society if affected. Americans are slowly adapting to wearing casual wear especially jeans and T-shirts. This conformity is so powerful, that it is slowly finding its way in the corporate sector.

Modern American professional world is adapting to the notion of dress down Friday, an idea that allows workers to tone down their official attire. In response to the notion, the American worker including some of the top CEO’s do wear jeans and T-shirts every Friday to work. (Rasband , 2010).

Rasband (2010) continues to explain that a study reveals that the average American owns more jeans and T-shirt s today than they did several years ago. A casual look at the ordinary American in shopping malls, hospitals airports, churches, sport stadiums, streets, cafes or any other place will revel that there are more people wearing jean and T-shirts than another type of clothing.

This jeans and T-shirts dressing code almost becomes a movement a phenomena Levi Straus has termed as “the most significant apparel trend of the century” (Rasband , 2010). Such conformity has eroded the American sense of personal touch as more American are falling prey to the jeans and T-shirts movement and thus limits the choices that American have on fashion.

Pittman and Townsend (n.d.) explains that such lack of choice in proposal apparel is the result of consumerism and mass production in the fashion industry, and results in loss of personal identity.

Consumerism in fashion is focused on quantity (and unfashionable clothing) rather than quality. It thus leads to a shortage of fashion wear that can enhance people’s individual identity. Rather it leads to e enhancement of social identity.

(Rasband , 2010) explain that the erosion of personal identify by fashion has not been without consequences. The jeans and T-shits movement puts every one o the same level at the work place and in effect, productivity of employees has notably declined.

Casual wears hinders a person productivity in the workplace as the person has retreated into the confront zone and thus lucks the necessary motivation to work. The teaching profession has been greatly affected by such erosions of culture.

American teachers have adopted casual wear and have ended looking more like the students they teach. The effect is a decline in discipline in American schools. (Rasband , 2010) concludes that dressing and in similar fashion makes Americans “look alike and thus begin to feel and act alike.”

The variety that is necessary to make a well-formed society is thus lost. The lack of variety in personal identity means that there is also a limitation in personal beliefs customs and norms. The average American has thus lost the ability to be different and to rise above the societal norms.

It can be sufficiently concluded that fashion and man cannot be separated. They have a mutually dependent relationship. Man has had a significant influence in fashion industry. People have used fashion designs as away of communicating personal identities. They wear clothes that enhance their personal characteristics.

A person will wear dreadlocks to communicate ac message about personal beliefs and attitudes. There is also the evolvement of the free material culture, a group of people that believe I moving beyond conventional dressing codes in emphasis of their free spirit self.

Any attempts thus to remove dress is seen as an attempt to strip a person of their persons al identity. As such personal identity is embedded in a persons dressing style. Removing a dress is tantamount to removing your dress. However, fashion cannot be ignored in the way it influences a person’s character. There have been instances that a fashion erodes a personal identity leaving the person exposed to adhere to group dynamics.

This has been the effect of consumerism culture prevalent in the contemporary society. Consumerism culture leads to mass production. Fashion designers have thus responded to this phenomenon by creating massive designs and adapted exploitative marketing technique to force people to buy predetermined designs. Thus, people drop their unique dressing styles in favor of the mass culture.

This in effect affects the person identity as people star to behave in the same way. As such fashion becomes wastefully and unethical because it erodes not only the identify of a person but also of the entire society. This has lead to an emergence of a class of l fashion theorist with ethical views about sustainable fashion models.

Ethical fashionistas say that there is need to reverse the mass consumerism not only to protect the erosion of person identities but also to protect the environment. This will be done through recycling fashion design and material (Pittman and Townsend, 2003). Rasband (2010) explains that there is a way out the current wasting of personal identity in the society.

People can be very deliberate in their dressing style but not dress in response to mass fashion demands but to what the are personally comfortable with in respect to the situation they are in. the jeans and t-shirts are not entirely wrong but should be only worn at the right time and for the right purpose.

Bollier, D., & Racine, A. (2003). Control of creativity? Fashion’s secret . Christian Science Monitor. Web.

Easy.org, (2011). Fashion and identity . Web.

Ffion, G., (2011). AWARE: Art fashion identity . Web.

Grant, M. (1997). Dressing up a self: fashion and kristeva’s “subject in Process”. Melbourne Journal of Politics . Web.

MAS 961 · Individual identity and reputation . SMG media. 2006. Web.

Pittman, L., & Townsend, K. (n.d.). Designer/makers are key to sustainable textile development. Web.

Rasband, J. (2010). America’s going down the tube in a t-shirt. Conselle institute of image management. Web.

Sanders, C. (1988). Marks of mischief: becoming & being tattooed. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 16, 395-432

Simply psychology. (2011). Conformity in Psychology . Simply psychology . Web.

Werner, P. (n.d.). Psyche and spirit . T parents. Web.

Winter, M. (2004). Interpreting the influence of diverse cultures on fashion: Human Ecology, (32), Questia. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2018, May 25). Fashion and Identity. https://ivypanda.com/essays/fashion-and-identity/

"Fashion and Identity." IvyPanda , 25 May 2018, ivypanda.com/essays/fashion-and-identity/.

IvyPanda . (2018) 'Fashion and Identity'. 25 May.

IvyPanda . 2018. "Fashion and Identity." May 25, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/fashion-and-identity/.

1. IvyPanda . "Fashion and Identity." May 25, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/fashion-and-identity/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Fashion and Identity." May 25, 2018. https://ivypanda.com/essays/fashion-and-identity/.

CLOTHING AND IDENTITY: WHAT DO OUR CLOTHES SAY ABOUT US?

Have you ever thought about the message your clothes send and what it says about you? What story are you telling with your style today?

I think this is an important question to ponder! In a world where we are constantly being encouraged to conform to what is deemed in Milan or New York, it is very hard to forge our own styles. The majority of us are influenced more by what celebrities wear than our own fashion sensibilities. We never stop to ask the question, does this style or image reflect my values. Rather, we find ourselves parading the latest trends. You see this often with teenagers, but unfortunately we all succumb to the pressure of being part of the in crowd, even when that trend contradicts our deeply held values.

Style is more than clothing

Style is more than the clothes we wear, it’s how we carry ourselves. Our style reveals what is distinct and unique about us. Style then is the outward expression of how we see ourselves. Our attire and the way we put ourselves together sometimes speaks louder than our words. As a pastor I have the great privilege of working with people and I am amazed at the stories people tell with the clothes they wear. What they wear and how they wear the clothes reveals so much about them. In a moment I can tell how they are feeling, which part of their body they like or dislike, how confident or comfortable they are and where they think they fit in to the world.

When I was 14 I dressed not to express who I was but to hide my skinny frame! My primary objective was to cover up what I deemed to be unattractive about me and to gain acceptance from my peers. How many of us do this? Wearing clothes to hide rather than to express who we are.

Related article:  THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FASHION AND BASKETBALL

What we put on every morning does matter! Even if you are not fashion conscious, the choice of clothes you put on will influence people’s perception of you, and how you see yourself. We should never judge a book by it’s cover. However, the book cover does hold the pages together. Yes, we are more than covers but what covers us does say something and has value.

Conceal or reveal?

When we have a healthy self image we use clothes to reveal our inherent value. However, when we have a negative self image we use clothes to conceal. The outer garments we wear should never define us, but sadly this is all too common. Much of society is segregated by style and this has dire consequences. I believe we need to embrace the person despite the clothes and accessories they wear.

Yes, we can experience a temporary boost of self confidence by what we wear, but we have to recognize this is temporary and will not bring us lasting joy. Way too many of us hide behind our various styles instead of using clothes to express what is beautiful and unique about us.

If you want to improve your style and want to say something positive with the clothes you wear I encourage you to first start figuring out who you are, and you will naturally begin to wear clothes that reflect this new found identity.

We are not what we wear, but we have to recognize we can become what we wear. Putting on different types of clothes has the power to change our self perception and how others see us. This is why it’s important we pay attention to clothes we put on.

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Fashion & Identity : What is the Truth Behind your Outfit?

You’d never think my background was one of a fashion consultant. I didn’t grow up in LA or NYC. I wasn’t part of a wealthy family. In high school, stores like Hollister were out of my price range unless I shopped the clearance section.

I wasn’t part of the popular crowd. In fact, I was homeschooled through my first few years of high school. I always wondered what it must be like to be the pretty, popular girl with all the right clothing. I envied the confidence, the allure, and the apparent satisfaction of being the most beautiful in a crowd of people.

I wanted my image to create a version of myself that pleased others. That attracted others to me.

During my first year of marriage, my husband and I enjoyed weekly date nights. I looked forward to Friday nights and spent time planning and getting ready for them. I would get all dolled up, expectant of my husband’s reaction. Even though he often told me I looked beautiful, it left me feeling empty inside. I had convinced myself I would feel a certain way, and that this feeling would satisfy me. On many date nights, I felt held back…not free to be myself.

I later discovered the reason behind my disappointment. I was distorting a truth, a God-given right as a woman. I was putting my identity in my outward appearance. And I wasn’t the first.

Our culture is entrenched with lies around beauty and self-worth.

Our culture is entrenched with lies around beauty and self-worth. We see an ad with a woman in a beautiful dress and immediately associate the attention she receives with value. She’s the epitome of beauty, of womanhood.

The jewels, the fine lace, and the rich lipstick send a message of grace, dignity, and poise. She must be gracious and kind. She must be a woman of virtue. That’s what her clothing says about her.

Yet more often than not, the inside of us is rotting away while we devote all our time and attention toward our outward beauty. While we seek the apparent satisfaction of being the fairest of them all, we nurture the idols in our heart that distort our true beauty. While we seek momentary and fleeting attention from others, our priorities are skewed and our humility and gentility are replaced with envy and jealousy.

We make a good gift the ultimate gift. And we tell God He didn’t do a good job when He created us.

But wait…

Isn’t it a bit ironic to be hearing all this from an image consultant? After all, isn’t the entire stylist thing about helping women feel beautiful? To empower women to feel comfortable in their own skin? Yes it is. But it comes with a message.

Your clothing isn’t your identity.

Your clothing isn’t your identity. It represents a part of your identity, but it won’t give you value or worth. Though the clothing you wear sends a strong message about who you are, it cannot cover or mask the true you. While you’re busy creating a version of yourself in the clothing you wear, the true you, the heart and soul of who you are, will fade if neglected.

This part of you, your true self, is made beautiful through a relationship with Jesus. As you seek His heart and design for you, you are conformed to His image. Romans 8:29 says, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.” The words “conformed to” in this context mean “sharing the same inner essence or identity”. As you reflect the nature of Jesus in your words and actions, you are taking on His very identity. An identity that doesn’t base worth or beauty on outward appearance, but on the precious and priceless heart of your inward person. With the gift of His Spirit living inside of you, you are becoming more and more beautiful everyday.

So how does all this really shake itself out?

When you get dressed in the morning, enjoy the confidence you feel in a well-designed wardrobe, but remember Who gives you true confidence…a confidence that isn’t dependent on how you look.

Thank God for the way He created you, and learn to steward your appearance in a way that brings glory to Him. Not with apathy, and not with an idol of approval in your heart.

Dress in a way that reflects who you are, but don’t spend all morning getting ready. Put thought and intentionality into your wardrobe so you don’t have to agonize about what you’re wearing later in the day.

Enjoy it, but don’t make it ultimate. Because true beauty lies within, and that beauty is imperishable.

Thank God for the way He created you, and learn to steward your appearance in a way that brings glory to Him.

“Your adornment must not be merely external—braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses; but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.” 1 Peter 3:3-4

Dig deep—how do you feel about your external appearance? If you immediately bristle up, it’s time to have a long talk with God. He’s the one that made you and loves you, regardless of what the mirror throws back at you. How can you step more into God’s view of you?

Enjoyed it? Share it!

Sandi is a Denver-based wardrobe consultant and personal stylist. Her mission is to provide affordable styling solutions to everyday women who desire ease and joy in their wardrobes. She loves day trips to the mountains, remodeling her fixer-upper townhome with her husband, and singing in the church band. She lives in Lakewood, Colorado with her husband of almost 5 years and two daschunds.

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Thank you so much for this! I thought this article was going to be about how you should dress as a virtuous woman, but it was totally different. I love the powerful message behind this article! May God bless you in everything you do!

This was really timely! I’ve been struggling with my “youthful” appearance (I’m 30 but always get mistaken to be a decade younger!) More so lately, I’ve been really insecure and wanting to look more “womanly” than my girly appearance. So I’ve been so obsessed with getting the right kind of clothes and avoiding certain kind (those which are simplest and comfortable). This article couldn’t be timelier! Thanks for your sharing!

Ky Ky, I’m almost a little jealous of you because I’m on the flip side! People think I’m the oldest of my three sisters, and my oldest sister is 6 years older than me. Ah! But it is all too easy to obsess over our appearance, isn’t it? It can be tricky to find the balance between caring a little and caring too much. I’m so glad this article was timely for you! I know I’ll need to be reminded of this again and again. 😉

Such a good topic that isn’t talked about. The pressure of facing your closet every morning is a real thing. Than you for sharing this perspective.

These struggles can be deep rooted for many or even most women. I love your willingness to expose what’s underneath it all and then share the truth and freedom that comes through Christ. Lovely article. You go, girl!

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Fashion and Identity

Identity is one of the most compelling and contentious concepts in the humanities and social sciences. Fashion becomes inextricably implicated in constructions and reconstructions of identity: how we represent the contradictions and ourselves in our everyday lives. Through appearance style (personal interpretations of, and resistances to, fashion), individuals announce who they are and who they hope to become. Moreover, they express who they do not want to be or become (Freitas et al., 1997). Appearance style is a metaphor for identity; it is a complex metaphor that includes physical features (for example, skin, bodily shape, hair texture) as well as clothing and grooming practices. Because the latter are especially susceptible to change, they are prone to fluctuating and fluid ways of understanding oneself in relation to others within the larger context of fashion change.

Overlapping Identities

Appearance style visually articulates multiple and overlapping identities such as gender, race, ethnicity, social class, sexuality, age, national identity, and personal interests, aesthetic, and politics. Not all of these identities are consciously present at any given moment; power relations influence one's awareness of one identity or another. Privileged identities (such as whiteness, masculinity, heterosexuality) are often taken for granted as being "normal" or "natural." But because identities intersect and overlap, their representation is seldom simple. From a cultural studies perspective, identities have not only histories but also futures: They come from somewhere, they are complex and contradictory, and they enable us to express who we might become (Ang 2000).

Self-Expression

Expressing who we are and are becoming in words can be a challenge; appearance style seems to offer a way of articulating a statement that is difficult to put into words-that is, emerging and intersecting identities. In fact, it is easier to put into words who we want to avoid being or looking like (that is, not feminine, not too slutty, no longer a child) than it is to verbalize who we are (Freitas et al., 1997). Moreover, one identity blurs or blends into another identity (for example, gender into sexuality). And, articulations of identity are often ambivalent. Davis (1992) argued that identity ambivalences provide the "fuel" or ongoing inspiration for fashion change. Fashion-susceptible ambivalences include the interplay between youth versus age, masculinity versus femininity, or high versus low status, among many other possibilities within and across identities.

Identity in the Social Sciences

The study of identity in the social sciences and humanities can be traced to a longer history of the self, personality, and subjectivity, especially in modern Western cultures. Breward (1995) identifies the middle to late sixteenth century as a time when there was a heightened self-consciousness about identity as something that could be individually "fashioned" (p. 69). By the eighteenth century, philosophers (such as Hume and Rousseau) were questioning what constitutes one's true selfhood, when traditional societies were breaking down (Kellner 1994). (It is important to note that this questioning still assumed the subjectivity of a white, bourgeois male.) Also in the eighteenth century, consumers began to establish more personalized relationships with individuality, modernity, culture, and clothing (Breward 1995, p.112). For example, the "molly" culture of eighteenth century London provided a means for males to transgress traditional boundaries of masculinity by experimenting with feminine clothing and accessories. By the nineteenth century, consumption linked identity directly to one's possessions, especially among bourgeois Western women. At the same time, new ways of expressing identifications and disidentifications in city life were emerging (for example, bohemians, dandies; Breward 2003, p. 218).

Arriving at Individual Expression

The modern fashion consumer was moving away "from a concern with elaborate artifice" toward one of individual expression (Breward 2003, p. 200). Crane (2000) describes this as a shift from class fashion to consumer fashion. This was not a smooth process. Modernity itself created fragmentation and dislocation, producing a paradoxical sense of what it meant to be an individual. Wilson (1985) theorizes that a modern sense of individuality functions like a wound that generates fear about sustaining the autonomy of the self; fashion somewhat assuages that fear, while also reminding us that individuality can be suppressed (p. 12).

Although for centuries clothing had been a principal means for identifying oneself (for example, by occupation, regional identity, religion, social class) in public spaces (Crane, 2000), the twentieth century witnessed a wider array of subcultural groupings that visually marked "their difference from the dominant culture and their peers by utilizing the props of material and commercial culture" (Breward 2003, p. 222). In the 1960s, sociologist Gregory Stone (1965) argued that identity has many advantages over the more fixed, psychological concept of personality, and that identity is not a code word for "self." Rather, identity is an announced meaning of the self-one that is situated in and negotiated through social interactions. He argued that appearance is fundamental to identification and differentiation in everyday life. The "teenage phenomenon" of the 1950s and 1960s made this very apparent by fostering an awareness of age identity as it intersected with a variety of musical and personal preferences-all coded through appearance styles. The social movements (civil rights, feminist, gay and lesbian rights) of the late 1960s and early 1970s further accentuated stylistic means for constructing and transgressing racialized, ethnic, gender, and sexual identities.

Anything Goes

From the post-1960s to the present-a period described as everything from post-industrial to postmodern-an advanced (global) capitalist marketplace has produced an eclectic array of commodities from which individuals can select, mix, and match to produce their identities (Kaiser 1999; Kaiser, Nagasawa, and Hutton, 1991). Wilson (1992) reminds us that despite modern (or postmodern) fragmentation, we ultimately do not choose our bodies, "so postmodern playfulness can never entirely win the day" (p. 8). In the context of ongoing fashion change, appearance style functions ambiguously both to (a) resist "older" ideas about fixed personality or true self and (b) fix identity (for example, ethnicity, sexuality, religion) more firmly. As the global and local penetrate one another, style and fashion afford strategies for articulating the "contradictory necessity and impossibility of identities … in the messiness of everyday life" (Ang 2000, p. 11).

See also Afrocentric Fashion; Ethnic Dress ; Fashion Gender and Dress.

Bibliography

Ang, Ien. "Identity Blues." In Without Guarantees: In Honour of Stuart Hall. Edited by Paul Gilroy, Lawrence Grossberg, and Angela McRobbie, London: Verso, 2000.

Breward, Christopher. The Culture of Fashion. Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Press, 1995.

--. Fashion. Oxford, U.K: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Crane, Diana. Fashion and Its Social Agendas: Class, Gender, and Identity in Clothing. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2000.

Davis, Fred. Fashion, Culture, and Identity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.

Freitas, Anthony, et al. "Appearance Management as Border Construction: Least Favorite Clothing, Group Distancing, and Identity … Not !" Sociological Inquiry 67, no. 3 (1997): 323-335.

Kaiser, Susan B., Richard N. Nagasawa, and Sandra S. Hutton. "Fashion, Postmodernity and Personal Appearance: A Symbolic Interactionist Formulation." Symbolic Interaction 14, no. 2 (1991): 165-185.

Kaiser, Susan B. "Identity, Postmodernity, and the Global Apparel Marketplace." In The Meanings of Dress. Edited by Mary Lynn Damhorst, Kimberly A. Miller, and Susan O. Michelman. New York: Fairchild Publications, 1999.

Kellner, Douglas. "Madonna, Fashion, and Identity." In On Fashion. Edited by Shari Benstock and Suzanne Ferriss. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1994.

Stone, Gregory P. "Appearance and the Self." In Dress, Adornment, and the Social Order. Edited by Mary Ellen Roach and Joanne B. Eicher. New York: Wiley, 1965.

Wilson, Elizabeth. Adorned in Dreams: Fashion and Modernity. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1985.

--. "Fashion and the Postmodern Body." In Chic Thrills: A Fashion Reader . Edited by Juliet Ash and Elizabeth Wilson. Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 1992.

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Fashion Reveals Your True Identity Argumentative Essay

In a speech titled Fashion Reveals Your True Identity, the speaker discusses the definition of fashion and its impact on personal identity. They argue that fashion is a general term for popular trends in clothing, footwear, and accessories, and that clothing communicates messages about a person’s character, social status, and sexuality. The speaker uses the example of the baju kurung, a traditional Malay dress that has become popular among women of different races in Malaysia, to demonstrate how clothing can transcend cultural boundaries. They also note that clothing can communicate something about a person’s socio-economic status. Finally, the speaker mentions mood rings, a popular item of jewellery in the late 1970s, as an example of how fashion can reflect a person’s emotional state.

Fashion Reveals Your True Identity A very good morning to our honourable judges, worthy competitors, teachers and friends. I am standing here today to deliver a speech entitled ‘Fashion Reveals Your True Identity’. Before I begin, let me ask you – what is fashion all about? Stella Blum mentioned, “Fashion is a social agreement,” but Edmund C. Stedman said, “Fashion is potency in art.” To me regardless what you wear, it is called fashion. Fashion is a general term for a popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. “Fashion” refers to current trends in look and dress up of a person, as well as to prevailing styles in behavior. The more technical term, “costume,” has become so linked in the public eye with …show more content…

As all of us know, baju kurung is a loose-fitting, full length dress, consisting of a skirt and a blouse. It is usually worn by Malay women, but now, females from different races in Malaysia walk around wearing the baju kurung. The way you dress communicates your message. It describes your inner character, your social status and your sexuality. The ways you dress share your philosophy and art vision to public in a convincing way. How did you know? Because clothing communicates.If I tell you there’s a teenager bundled up in a snowsuit, mittens, a wool hat and a scarf would you agree with me that the teenager is probably not on his way to a picnic?Clothing and appearance send a message. They can communicate our occupation or an occasion we’re marking. In some of the world’s religions, women are clearly identifiable by their dress.Clothing can communicate something about our socio-economic status. You can look at some people and think, “She looks like a wealthy woman.” Or you might look at another woman and—purely on the basis of her clothing—say, “She doesn’t look like she comes from a financially stable background.” As I said, fashion reveals your true identity. It also shows your frame of mind. With a little help from this little jewellery, anyone and everyone will be able to see how you feel. First popularized in the late 1970s, the mood ring is .

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