Ever since I was a little girl, clothes and shoes have been important to me. I loved picking out my own outfits for school, and finding just the right color Keds or sandals to match. It truly was a passion. Even now, many years later, here I am, the same shopaholic and fashion maniac I have always been. After researching semiotics, which in short, is the method of interpreting signs and finding a deeper meaning in everyday activities, I realize, that my reasoning for choosing the clothes and shoes that I chose, is deeper, than just the fact that I looked cute, it was a choice of statements I was making each and every time. The question is what statements did I make?
Recently, on a trip through Europe I bought myself some new shoes, that I completely adore. Not only are they incredibly comfortable, but they are stylish and chic too. The real deal is, they are Diesel shoes, and cost me around $150, which is definitely not a normal amount for me to spend on shoes. I realized that I most likely would never have bought them if I hade not seen the name Diesel on the back (not eve...
In the article, “The Fashion Industry: Free to Be an Individual” by Hanna Berry, Berry discusses how for decades women have been told to use certain products and that if they used those products they would be beautiful. Women over the years have believed this idea and would purchase items that promised to make them prettier, thinner, smarter and even more loved. However, in reality it was never what they wore on their bodies that helped them be any of those things; but what it did help with was to empower women to become fearless and bold by what they chose to wear on their bodies as a form of expression.
Ever since I was able to dress myself I would and wouldn’t let anyone else tell me what to wear. As my family would tell me, they knew that I had my own sense of style from a young age. Over they years my love for fashion and creating things grew and never went away. While taking sewing classes in middle school, I wanted to be a fashion designer and that stayed my top career choice for a while. Once I got to high school I first took a fashion marketing class. In that class we learned a little bit about different marketing and how to promote some stores
Clothes are a semiotic sign within human culture that delineate status, class, and self-expression of the wearer. William Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Macbeth explores themes of power, wealth, and worth. A myriad of passages within the text utilize clothing to convey ideas regarding authority and ability. The motif of clothing reveals character’s judgments toward each other as well as toward themselves. Ultimately, the motif of clothing functions to magnify themes such as power and status, and reveal character’s attitudes.
We are always talking about a narrow standard that the society put on women, but forget that men also get pressure to fit the social expectation. Men are expected to be responsible for the family, be brave and fight for the country at any cost, and hide all the vulnerable emotion to be considered as a strong man. All of those intangible standards become a rock of thousand tons bending and twisting men for their whole life. Burdens that men have to carry every day have been discussed in many pieces of literature. That is the burden of all the soldiers in the story “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien who have to hide their feelings about the cruel reality of the war and fight at any cost in the battle. That is the burden of financial responsibility
High school has taught me to value the lessons I learn about myself as highly as I value the lessons I learn in the classroom. I read Tim O’Brien’s novel The Things They Carried in my Advanced Placement English Literature class this fall. The book is set during and after the Vietnam War, and delves into the emotional and physical burdens that the soldiers carried. Instead of a traditional essay that discusses how and why the author uses specific literary devices, my teacher assigned a paper entitled “The Things I Carry”. The purpose of the paper was to experiment with first-person narrative writing and explore our own lives and emotions, like the characters in the novel. My paper exposes a raw, personal view of myself. Writing is a tool I have
Many know this, but at times, it just feels very propelling. An example of this would be when people know the release date of the shoe and wait for hours before the store opens, just to be caught up in the trend. However, it has a life cycle because it diffuses very quickly. For example, you can buy the newest shoe, but if two weeks past by and a new style comes out, the shoes that you just bought is no longer in fashion. Therefore, every style has an expiration date. Because we see the time and effort, people put into buying shoes, we catch ourselves also intrigued. Therefore, fashion is social, because we would notice what people are wearing and copy them, which is known as imitation, such as when people bought the Jordan 1’s because Michael Jordan wore them. This connects back to Simmel’s idea because imitation gives individual the satisfaction of not standing alone in his actions, free from choosing and appear “simply as a creature of the group, as a vessel of the social contents” (Fashion, 295). Therefore, it is through fashion and imitation, we find a sense of belonging to a group that has a similar taste to
... style to feel like other's like I was worth something. I soon realized as I got older that "living through, somebody else's shadow will keep me from knowing myself,". I realized that being myself and wearing what I like makes me even more beautiful. The advertisments on t.v are not the way they seem in reality.
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.
Fashion is something that keeps on changing and because of its change, fashion effects our lives nearly in every aspect like language, furniture, homes, cars, clothes, food and many other things. For our second symposium we focus on relationships between fashion and social responsibilities. It is strange but true that social responsibilities intersect with fashion. As there are many phases to fashion from ideation, design, production, distribution, sale, consumption, and ultimately disposal, and in many situations decisions can reflect socially responsible views and sensibilities. Designs...
Fletcher, Ben C. "What Your Clothes Might Be Saying About You." Psychology Today. Sussex Directories, Inc., 20 Apr. 2013. Web. 3 Dec. 2013. .
Fashion, psychology and the sociological perspective have long been perceived as mutually exclusive concepts. However, is there a possibility that a trinity exists in the former? To illustrate, it is evident that throughout history fashion has influenced society as a whole and has mirrored its aspects i.e. economical and sociological. Furthermore, this influence has developed to be perceived psychologically where individuals identify with fashion in the sense of translating visual information showing their personal views and attitudes. To that effect, what is fashion? Traditionally and in the literary sense, fashion is defined as ‘a popular trend, especially in styles of dress and ornament or manners of behavior’ . However,
Anybody that knows me knows that my passion and goals in life have to deal with fashion. If I could be anything in this world I would love to be a designer of some sort or at least be in the industry. When it comes to clothing and style it just comes easy one of the easiest things I’m good at. Fashion is an art form it allows you to express your view on style anyway you choose. And to me I feel like nobody has the right to judge that. Style hasn’t always come easy to be though just like everything else it takes time and practice it’s still a work in progress. When I look back to my middle school and early high school years I wonder deeply about my choices, middle school had to have been the worst. I was going through a colored jeans faze, I would wear bright yellow, honey mustard yellow, sky blue, purple, and pink. If somebody were to name a color I probably had jeans that color. It gets worse though because I would have the worst possible combination choice of shoes to go along with a matching bead necklace and bracelet set, followed by a grey or navy blue uniform shirt. It’s clear I had no idea what I was doing the best part is I was being myself and that’s all that matters. No matter how much I think my style has grown I’m only human and will look back and probably wonder why I wore the outfit I’m wearing sitting here writing this essay.
Clothing is something that defines a person, and allows society to have an outlook on an individual’s lifestyle and beliefs. Unlike criticizing other material things like a car, a home or even something as simple as a television set, criticism of clothing is very personal. This suggests that there is a high correlation between clothing and personal identity and values. (Breward, pg.1) Clothing in a sense has the ability to communicate thought. However, similarly to art interpretations, this does not mean that any two people will perceive these visual aesthetics similarly.
In conclusion, fashion will speak out a person’s social signal, people dress on designs that blend with their social class. Just as population, social activities and fashion are changing with time. Fashion has made clothing to be convinient, everything needs to be done with the least effort and spend the least time.
How does one create the “self”? How do we form as individuals? Whether a person is male or female, white or black, rich or poor, tall or short, pretty or ugly, fat or skinny, the most important factor is the development of the “self”. The self refers to the unique set of traits, behaviors, and attitudes that distinguishes one person from another (Newman 283). To distinguish between oneself from others, one must be able to recognize their unique traits and characteristics. One must be able to differentiate between one’s own physical appearance and another’s. There are many components such as gender, race, ethnicity, and social class, which shape and influence our values, beliefs, and impression of life. Understanding the difference between sex and gender allows one to grow into their own masculinity and femininity. Recognizing the history of one’s past in regard to their ethnic backgrounds and struggle will shape the development on one’s self. Having the luxury of money and power will affect the self and the way that one appreciates the value of the dollar or lack thereof. One of the most important factors may be one’s physical features which will eventually influence one’s self-confidence and affect the self as a whole. Once an individual has acknowledged the traits of their “self”, they’re in control of either maintaining their self, or changing their self to satisfy their standards.