The true meaning of ‘fashion’ differs from person to person. Universally, fashion has always been a form of expression for everyone. Our selection of clothes that we choose to wear can be influenced by many factors such as our mood, today’s trends, the season, and more. Fashion empowers a person through the ability to communicate without uttering a word. Macklemore rightly quoted “We are what we wear, we wear what we are.” A person’s way of dressing not only showcases their personality but also helps to recognize the social identity of that person by personally expressing the social identity of the individual.
Social identity is how we perceive ourselves concerning others based on the things we share. For example, a person who has been born and brought in Mumbai identifies himself as ‘Mumbaikar’. We often use our social identities in conjunction with our personal identities. This plays an important role in how we identify ourselves with new people. Whenever we associate with a certain social group, we change our way of dressing, behaviour, and presenting ourselves. Our new way of dressing affects our behaviours, which in turn affects the way we present ourselves.
The concept of fashion shaping our social identities traces back to the 18th to 19th centuries. During these centuries there was the presence of a heavy social class system existing in the society. A normal person would only have one suit which they used for multiple purposes in their entire lifetime. Only the rich could afford to have more than 1 suit leading to the rich dressing up in new suits and gowns every day whereas normal people broadly classified as middle class and lower class would wear the same outfit daily. Back then, these were the main criteria through which one’s identity was formed, as fashion and your ability to always dress for the occasion to blend in with your respective purchase power were the greatest indicators of who you were.
These standards in modern times have seen a drastic change. Fashion now became more personality-oriented than money oriented. Let’s take an example of a person who likes to wear clothes which are black or of much darker shades in colour along with it they prefer to match their makeup with the same shade. You guessed it right, they are called ‘goths’. They love dark shades and are often seen as ‘mysterious’, and ‘unique’, and sometimes people also refer to them as ‘weird’ just because of their way of styling. Here we can observe that when a person dresses up a certain way, they are referred to with a certain quality or name. Our likings and interests have a quite big impact on our fashion as well. A person who wants to position themself as someone who has high status ends up purchasing luxury and branded goods.
We humans, tend to adapt, copy and learn from other humans. The reason behind buying costly and luxury products can also add up to being influenced by the lifestyle of a rich person. Not only that but purchasing a luxury good is also a symbol of how a person values his/her own self. For instance, a person who wears bright and pastel colours seem of as a person who is sociable, happy, and cheerful. Automatically, the person is perceived a certain way by society. If a man is wearing feminine clothes, he is called names and is even considered a girl. Even if this man just dresses up in a unique way, his social identity is already formed because of his choice of fashion. From this we might infer that fashion plays quite an important role in forming our identities by being the first thing people notice about us.
In conclusion one can say, our social and personal identities are expressed, demonstrated, and in some ways shaped by fashion. We dress a certain way because we want people and ourselves to be portrayed a certain way. In this process, one can go to extreme depths where they actually end up forgetting their own authentic identity. Nowadays, people use fashion as a tool to either strengthen or weaken their sense of self. We are continuously attempting to conform to the trends that are emerging because there are so many of them. We leave behind our originality in order to avoid feeling out of place. Fashion is all about expressing yourself rather than trying to fit in the crowd. One’s fashion should be able to form a social identity unique to that person, which shows their unique self instead of a trend.
Written by Saumya Shah
Edited by Roshan Kukreja
