Who are we under our Clothes? ~ REVISION

People choose clothing for many reasons. Some as simple as to protect and cover, to keep warm, or to avoid being arrested for streaking in public. The more common known reason would be to conform to societies expectations. Sometimes doing this we have a tendency of not revealing or loosing touch with our true identity and personality. You can't always tell a person by clothing alone, just like you can't judge a book by its cover, however, it can say a lot. Some dress to express, impress or address job expectations, but who we are will be found deep under our clothes.

There are many reasons why people conform to societies expectations, one of them being your place of work. In some jobs you are required to dress to an image that identifies your position at work. People will wear certain styles & colors, business suits, Carhart, uniforms, etc., to identify them as a part of a group.

Paul Fussell states, "Society, which the more I think of it astonishes me the more, is founded upon cloth.” Thus Thomas Carlyle in 1836. “Little less astonishing today is some of the cloth objects chosen by their wearers. But when such objects become, like uniforms, obligatory and regulated, with implications of mass value, they are irresistibly fascinating.” Uniforms: Why We Are What We Wear

We are not always given an option to what we wear in the work world. Which leaves us wondering,” Is that person wearing that suit, an uptight person?” “ Are they a person of responsibility and/or power?” Or, “Are they just fitting the image?” They could be or maybe they go home and rip off their suits and put on those jeans they are most comfortable in. There is a lot of misleading of identity when you are out in public, when it comes to what people wear.

A person always looking for the newest, coolest outfit, with the newest, coolest accessories are often considered conforming to societies expectations. They want to be accepted by others so bad, that they will do whatever it takes to fit that image with their clothing. If the new Abercrombie & Fitch sweatshirt is $90, it doesn’t matter as long as it fits the image the person is trying to convey. A lot of this begins at a very young age. Volunteering in the school system around young kids really has opened my eyes up to what has become a growing problem. The majority students are wearing name brands at very young ages. We as adults have forced our ways of dressing onto our children, by buying clothes at Nordstrom, Macys, etc., and boycotting the more inexpensive stores such as Target & Sears because they don’t carry all name brands. Really, babies don’t care if their first shoes, say NIKE. So as we instill these beliefs into our children we are possibly opening up an issue that could continue on through their lifetime. Yes, it is great to get something nice to wear and feel good about ourselves, but are we doing it for the right reason or are we trying to fit in?

As children become adolescences it becomes a challenge to integrate with peers at school. Often children are grouped at school and socially separated in status by their clothing. This is a major contributor in peer pressure related problems. Most children want to fit in and be popular. In order to achieve this station in school, children will dress in accordance with the clique they wish to be a part of. This problem only gets worse as they get older. Some children will dress in opposition to protest the popularity struggle. Even by doing this they are grouping themselves. It seems most people are either afraid to be themselves or uncomfortable being different. Other children dress to hide who they are because they are embarrassed of their selves. I decided to ask my 12-year-old daughter, who is in 6th grade, why she wears what she wears? I made sure to tell her that I want her to tell me exactly how she feels, and that there was no right or wrong answer. This is what she quoted to me. “I like to wear clothes that express who I am and ones that are more expensive, better brand, because it is most likely the in thing.” When she stated the “in thing”, she used her fingers as to making quotation marks. I was a little surprised because she doesn’t always show that attitude when shopping for clothes. Which then reminded me of an essay by Emily White, High School’s Secret Life.

“The popular kids at Calhoun dress overwhelmingly in the ubiquitous trendy brand Abercrombie & Fitch. They sport the logo on T-shirts, pants, bags, baseball hats.”

But as I contemplated a little deeper over my daughter’s answer I remembered that adolescents quite often don’t tell their parents everything they are thinking. Truthfully, I do take my kids to certain stores to shop for their clothes, because I don’t want them made fun of at school and I want them to fit it. I just didn’t realize they always caught on to that. It is a trap! Even as a 35 year old, I am still confined to social expectations.

Now we have to ask ourselves if how we dress really reflects our personality or are we trying to fit an image or “picture” that we think is acceptable to society? To answer this question, we have to ask that question of ourselves. From work clothes, to everyday clothes, from young kids to adults, we all are caught in the clothing trap to some degree or other. All we can hope is that we recognize this trap and try to find a way to be true to our identity.