Whether or not you care which pair of shoes you wear and what brand your t-shirt is, like our music, sports and career choices it’s a reflection of our personality. Those who think clothes are just clothes and so wear anything cheap and decent enough, this speaks volumes about you as a person as well as those who think they should own a Louis Vuttion clutch. The point of this is, that fashion speaks volumes about the social group we belong to and attracts various attitudes and assumptions by others who and do not have the same style.
Think of your close friends, lovers, partners, it’s very likely that they also share the same sense of fashion as you, or at least a sense of fashion you admire. Like many of the arts, which is often cast aside and left out of sociological theories regarding different groups of people, those studying a anthropology, sociology or arts degree probably do realise this, but it’s an interesting idea for those who have no interest in these fields to be aware of it. Like our music and film choices, the clothes someone wears attracts someone similar, usually in personally as well.
An American Apperal hoodie with skinny jeans and a checked shirt is common for men who frequent the night clubs Life or Digital for example. This is because they desire to fit in with the crowd and because the sex they’re attracted to finds what they wear attractive too. In contrast, if you’re a gay man in Revenge, you will most likely wear a watered-down version of the ‘Digital, Life’ look, with the odd Vivienne Westwood thrown in.
Fashion and what we wear has a much more departmental impact on our social lives than you would think. A person can successfully infiltrate another social group by a simple change of attire (any old fashion farce film clearly demonstrates this, or if you’ve read Shaw’s Pygmalion.) It then isn’t simply enough to disregard fashion as something for the catwalk, in Brighton of all places the distinction of individuality and social groups is prevalent here more than most places.
Fashion is clearly more than just the clothes we wear. It’s not just something for the gossip magazines or Vogue, it is an important element to our culture and way of life.
