For centuries mankind has used body adornments and clothes to indicate
what kind of people they are. Tribal women for example wear a lot of trinkets
to show how wealthy they are while those in India wear certain types of
adornments to indicate that they are single.
Whether
we like it or not, a person’s choice of clothes or a person’s sense of style is
a non verbal way of communicating one’s occupation, wealth, rank, class or
affiliation.
Fashion is not just about clothes or accessories or shoes or whatever we
buy at our favorite boutiques. We wear clothes not only because we need to be
clothed but because our clothes are a signal to other people about who we are –our
identity. It is a language of symbols and signs so to speak that is why it is
never far fetched to say that the clothes make the man or woman for that matter.
From
the newest fad to the newest hairstyle to the most expensive shoes or the
cheapest hat in the market, these all say a lot of things about the wearer
because what you wear is a barometer of what you are.
Call it stereotyping but hipsters for example wear knit hats just about
anywhere just to show that they are cool even if the weather is not cool. Apart
from a good way to judge people and what they like, fashion is also deemed as a
good barometer for cultural changes.
These
cultural changes include stuff like how we define what is beautiful and what is
not beautiful. The very much admired Rubenesque women centuries ago are now
defined as undesirable, our social concepts change, and our definition of what
is beautiful has changed which means that the world of fashion has to adapt to
such changes hence fads and trends.
Photos
via the-tudors.webs.com, celebitchy.com, fashionbloglife.com, middlegames.info,
coolstylefashion.net, fashion.lilithezine.com,vintageclothing.about.com,
villainouslyvintage.wordpress.com, cocomodelmanagement.blogspot.com, 90210.wikia.com,
plusfashionblog.com
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