Fashion Defines Individual Identity, Image, Shoes, And Accessories

Clothing has its own meaning in communication. We are being judged by our clothing every time we come in contact with someone. Human communication is accomplished by two ways, one third by words and the rest by nonverbal communication (Hickson, 1989). Clothes serve to be protection, social identification, sexual attraction, and many other services. Someone’s clothing can be different compared to others. Their clothing is based on their age, gender, occupation, personality, and values. According to William Thourlby, there are ten decisions that people around someone make based on their clothing along (Hickson, 1989). The ten decisions are:

We come across many different cultures and fashion in our society. Some may indicate that the culture influences one’s fashion while others may oppose and state that each aspect stands alone. Fashion and culture fall into the following identity categories: chosen and assigned. Culture affects many parts of an individual, in some cases you can determine an individual 's culture by their speech and clothing; in addition to traditions and the environment in which they were raised. Whereas fashion may be impacted by culture and tradition, but it may also not interact with culture at all.

While on a shopping trip, a group of my friends had decided to purchase the more expensive designer clothing. I, on the other hand, was attracted to my favorite attire – a generic tee-shirt and a pair of athletic shorts.

Fashion is everything to society and the media. The fashion industry has transformed into a necessity in the life of people. Everyone wants to look good, feel fabulous and feel as if we belong with everyone else. The envy and desire to wear certain things and look a certain way all come, from wearing the latest fashion handbags, accessories, dresses, shoes, and the list goes on. But, when is considering fashion into an individual’s life going too far to the extreme? Many do not consider the whereabouts of fashion materials and how the environment is affected by the mere existence of certain garments. Some may believe these objects grow on trees. But that is clearly not the case. Even though it would be nice. The fashion industry as a

Fashion reflects the attitudes of a society more than any other art form. Like art, fashion is a material record of the ideals that swayed the nations at the time of their creation. Through examining the styles, and tastes of a particular era, we can realize where the interests and priorities of a time lie. As Frank Parsons wrote in his 1920 study, The Psychology of Dress, "There is surly no better field in which to trace the devious paths of human thought than in that of clothes, where man has ever given free play to self expression, in a way which, thought not always a credit to his intelligence, is yet quite true to his innermost self, whether he will acknowledge it or

“BEFOR I CAN TALK TO YOU, PEOPLE SHOW THEIR SEX, AGE, CALSS, POSITION, WITH WHAT THEY ARE WEARING. ALL THIS IS REGISTERED UNCONCIOSLY“ Those words said by Alison Lurie in the language of clothes (1992), reflect perfectly the main point of my research. The society we are now living is an extremely conscious society regarding body image and the way we are presented to the exterior. We found an obsessive trend on wanting to look like celebrities by having certain items or looks and in relation to that a fear of not being percepted the tight way. This is where we found relation to how clothes are part of a conversation we haven 't started and are a form of expression. As there will be explained further on, we use clothes as a sign of our identity,as a way of representing ourselves and stand out from the crowd and also influence on how we appear in front of others making them (clothes) a huge part of our non verbal communication. This essay will discuss the ideas behind self -expression and the role of clothes has changed in that mater thought time.

The fashion industry is rapidly growing and constantly generating new fashion trends almost weekly. Fashion for some may seem ridiculous and unnecessary; but fashion is not just a meaningless usage of article of clothing or farcical materials sew together for coverage. There is more to fashion than meets the eyes, fashion is precious and significant. It is a reflection of self-image, it speak the ream about who we are and how we review ourselves. Not only is fashion the reflection of self-image but also the reflection of our history as Coco Channel have said, “Fashion is not something that exist in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.” Fashion

Today, fashion choices plays a major role in influencing the self-perception of different people. In order to understand how this happens, it is a good idea first to ascertain what self-perception is. This is the view of an individual about themselves as well as the physical and mental attributes that make up the individual. The theory of self-perception holds that individuals tend to develop certain attitudes through making observations of their own behavior as well as making conclusions of the attitudes that have led to them. One of the elements that influences self-perception is fashion choices. This is what this research paper will be based on. The paper will examine in details how fashion choices influences the self-perception of different people.

During our life we construct many different identities of who we want to portray ourselves as to the rest of society; fashion plays a vital role in generating who we are. With the ideas from Storry and Childs they state that “the way that we dress can either serve to confirm or to subvert various facets of our identities, such as our gender,

As stated before, psychology is a form of self-expression, and a form of visual communication. The way one dresses may put one in a fashion subcategory. These subcategories are thought of as a whole and are subject to judgment and discrimination of sorts. For example, a person with many tattoos and a vintage style of clothing may be viewed as a “hipster”, and hence the viewer may assume many things of the individual. The fit of garments say many things about oneself. Made-to-fit clothing on men in the business world is more respectable than non-tailored clothes. With women, skirt suits create the balance between attractiveness and masculinity in order to appear respectable, much more than the overly aggressive pant suit. One may see the effect of clothing when one researches on how to dress for an interview in order to make an impression upon the hiring manager.

Ever since their invention many centuries ago, clothes have been used as a way of communicating. The message communicated relies on a number of factors including the social background of both the communicator and the receiver, and the context in which the message is communicated. Although at times the exact message or symbolism one is trying to portray may not be clear, it is evident that clothing has long been embraced as one of the best ways to project one’s desired personal image to those around them.

When you think of the word fashion, what do you think? Do you think about outrageous runway outfits? Cocktail dresses? Tracksuits? Whatever your impression of fashion, it is obvious that fashion plays an important role in today's society. We are judged by our clothing and appearance on an everyday basis, so why not make the most of our choices?

In times where fashion is perceived as a global phenomenon, it seems easier than ever for people to follow, consume and produce fashion from anywhere at any point of time. Media is spreading what’s hot and what’s not within seconds all over the globe. A closer look at the mechanisms of the creation of fashion from a practical and theoretical angel sheds light on the well-guarded boarders of this so called fashion democracy. Who decides the content of fashion? A simple answer given, collectively repeated by those involved in the creation of fashion is talent. Without talent and the right intuition fashion cannot arise and prosper.

“I speak through my clothes.” (Hebdige, 1993: 100, quoting Eco, 1973) Fashion is one of the ways that one creates identity. In particular, since the rise of youth culture in the 1960s “fashion has become… a way of defining one’s identity - or else a way of avoiding such definition”. (Gonzalez & Bovone, 2012: 23) The 1960s saw a rise in mass production of consumerism fashion, and has been used as a form of expressing ones identity; whether it be inspired or interpreted from religion, social status, habitus, gender, cultural icons, or subcultures (such as punk, pastel goth, hipster, etc.) Crane states in Fashion and its Social Agendas, that due to the “availability of inexpensive clothing… that those with limited resources can find or create personal styles that express their perceptions of their identities” (Crane, 2000: 6); “the consumer is expected to ‘construct’ an individualised appearance from a variety of options.” (Crane, 2000: 155) However, Polhemus argues that “Fashion is an arbitrary language system where things are really what they appear to be” (Polhemus, 2011: 49), suggesting that fashion is a tool used for illusion. Bovone contributes, stating that “On the stage of everyday life, the performer declares what he is… his image is at stake and he is involved in a continuous negotiation with his fellow performers and the audience.” (Gonzalez & Bovone, 2012: 72) Polhemus and Bovone both illustrate that whilst fashion helps to create identity, it is not a reliable

To gain knowledge of how we communicate to others through the way we dress, we have to first understand what identity is. Identity is what we choose to represent ourselves as, be that a gender identity, a sexual identity; it is completely up to the individual as a person to make that choice. Identity forms the basis of one’s pride and being accepted socially only adds to that ego and integrity. The psychology of the matter is the way we dress is more or less based on our moods, habits, inspirations, past, present and future. The character of a person is reflected in the way that they dress, Clothing can act as a simple glance into someone’s life, as we are already know that different clothing can represent different means of culture; Clothes are used a language to communicate with society and to commonly let them know what you want to be viewed as.