What do our clothes say about us?
On Thursday morning as I was standing
in line at the bus station in Maple Grove I was watching the other people around
me. One thing that I noticed is how everybody was dressed. The bus is a mode of
transportation for many people who have jobs in the cities; therefore, many
people were dressed in business attire. Men were wearing suits, dress pants,
button down shirts, and ties. While the females tended to wear dress pants,
dresses, skirts, high-heeled shoes, and fancy blouses. In the line for the
express route to the University of Minnesota, males and females are dressed in
mostly jeans, t-shirts, and tennis shoes. This started to remind me of our
discussion about language and how all language is arbitrary. The way we dress
is in a way similar to this idea. The lines that make our letters, which in
turn make our words were picked randomly by somebody and just became a part of
our culture. Similarly, the way we dress seems kind of random. Somebody decided
one day that button down shirts and ties were considered dressy and
professional enough to wear to a job. Somebody randomly decided that females
should wear dresses when they go to their career or want to impress. Just as words
have been widely accepted, the way we dress is something that has been accepted
by our culture as a whole. Some people believe that clothes are a way to
express themselves, but if we wear what is accepted by our culture is it really
expressing ourselves or just following the rules?
You are right in pointing out that clothes (like language) are decided on by convention and are effective markers in reading people. But how would you relate it to changes in fashion trends? Or how older trends are recycled and re-labelled, for example, what we now call retro.
ReplyDeleteNowadays everything you wear falls into an acceptable niche of culture. Doesn't mean you can't still express yourself. Nudists are a great example. They don't wear clothes to advocate naturism. I happen to belong to a fraternity, and notice in that particular subculture that brothers adhere to a certain code of dress that attempts to reflect class and tradition. Hipsters wear hipster clothes (tight pants so they don't get caught in their fixed gear bicycles) in an attempt to defy social convention. No matter how hard one tries to express themselves through clothing, it is impossible to remain unique, so why try? Find something you like, that you think you look and feel good in and wear it.
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