Innovate Your Fashion!

Clothing is something we take for granted. For centuries clothes were used as protection – later on they became useful as body adornment as well as a form of nonverbal communication to indicate occupation, rank, gender, sexual availability, locality, class, wealth and group affiliation.

With such nonverbal communication came the term fashion. Of course fashion is more than just clothing, it also includes shoes and accessories. But at the core, what we wear and how and when we wear it, provides others with a synopsis of who we are and what we care about.

Culture plays a role in this interpretation as well. In modern society, we call those who are defining fashion as cultural icons and these are the people newspapers and magazines talk about while others follow.

The idea of putting fashion into magazines for others to examine dates back to the 1700s. Even then, people pored over fashion magazines to see the latest styles. Women and dressmakers outside the French court relied on sketches to see what was going on. The famous French King Louis XIV said that fashion is a mirror. Louis himself was renowned for his style, which tended towards extravagant laces and velvets.

Today we are constantly being bombarded with new fashion ideas with the Internet, videos, books, and television. Movies also have a big impact on what people wear.

Sociologists believe group affiliation is our prime concern with regard to fashion.  As long as some group similarity is identified within the group, our personal fashion whether current or dated can belong to any tribe. It is the sense of belonging marked by how we fashion ourselves that gives us the tribal connection.

At the same time, we as human beings desire differentiation. People are often socially and economically labeled by their clothing or fashion.  In history, the Edwardians were socially stratified into those who wore tailor made clothing down to those who wore other people’s cast offs.  The poor simply looked poor, because the clothes they wore betrayed them. The rich and nouveau riche displayed their wealth through an iconography of signs and symbols that enhanced their body image in the eyes of those that saw themselves as socially inferior.

Today, the purchase of fashionable clothes, fabrics, or accessories is more affordable and easily attainable by many. Dressing nice, choosing your style, being comfortable and classy are all within the reach of most people’s pocketbooks.

Yes fashion is still big business. More people are involved in the buying, selling and production of clothing than any other business in the world. But as long as people enjoy being unique, standing out from the rest and having something new to choose from year to year, fashion will always remain with us, no matter what the style.

For centuries individuals or societies have used clothes and other body adornment as a form of nonverbal communication to indicate occupation, rank, gender, sexual availability, locality, class, wealth and group affiliation. Fashion is a form of free speech. It not only embraces clothing, but also accessories. What we wear and how and when we wear it, provides others with a shorthand to subtly read the surface of a social situation.

How we perceive the beauty or ugliness of our bodies is dependant on cultural attitudes to physiognomy. In many cultures, those defining fashion are the cultural icons. This is why newspapers and magazines report on what celebrities and even politicians are wearing.

Examining who is wearing what through print media dates as far back as to even the 1700s. People pored over fashion magazines to see the latest styles. Women and dressmakers outside the French court relied on sketches to see what was going on. The famous French King Louis XIV said that fashion is a mirror. Louis himself was renowned for his style, which tended towards extravagant laces and velvets.

We are constantly being bombarded with new fashion ideas from music, videos, books, and television. Movies also have a big impact on what people wear.

Sociologists believe group affiliation is our prime concern with regard to fashion. As long as some group similarity is identified within the group, our personal fashion whether current or dated can belong to any tribe. It is the sense of belonging marked by how we fashion ourselves that gives us the tribal connection.

At the same time, we as human beings desire differentiation. People are often socially and economically labeled by their clothing or fashion. In history, the Edwardians were socially stratified into those who wore tailor made clothing down to those who wore other people’s cast offs. The poor simply looked poor, because their raiment betrayed them. The rich and nouveau riche displayed their wealth through an iconography of signs and symbols that enhanced their body image in the eyes of those that saw themselves as socially inferior.

Today, the purchase of fashionable clothes, fabrics, or accessories becomes a visual currency and can speak to one’s status. People are so aware of the fact that others make judgments about them through their clothes and accessories that many run up huge debts to appear to belong to a particular lifestyle. Only individuals with a strong sense of self-identity stick their necks out and admit to wearing items that others might consider dubious or passé.

In reality, there are many reasons we wear what we wear.

* Protection from cold, rain and snow: mountain climbers wear high-tech outerwear to avoid frostbite and over-exposure.

* Physical attraction: many styles are worn to inspire “chemistry.”

* Emotions: we dress “up” when we’re happy and “down” when we’re upset.

* Religious expression: Orthodox Jewish men wear long black suits and Islamic women cover every part of their body except their eyes.

* Identification and tradition: judges wear robes, people in the military wear uniforms, brides wear long white dresses.

The fact is, fashion is big business. More people are involved in the buying, selling and production of clothing than any other business in the world. Everyday, millions of workers design, sew, glue, dye, and transport clothing to stores. Ads on buses, billboards and magazines give us ideas about what to wear, consciously, or subconsciously. Choosing what we wear may be more complex in nature to ourselves than we imagined, ask yourself – why determines your fashion?