Cultural Studies of Fashions - Essay Example

Cultural studies of fashions Most of the fashions seen the world are products of cultural practices and individual beliefs. Cultures have significant influences on individuals exercising them as the people conformists will have to shape their behaviors to reflect elements of the culture. Personal beliefs and identities also impose substantial influence on the fashion habits of people. As argued by Bennett (2005), individuals do not only consider fashion in terms of clothes but also in the line of body or physic appearance. There are fashion categories to help individuals communicate and express their identities. According to Bennett (2005), the 21st youths are adopting tattooing and hear piercing as central elements of personal identities. Youngsters and especially those from the marginalized groups are using tattoos to express different information about their identities. Some use certain tattoos to show their artistic capabilities or talents of drawing and creativity. Gays, homosexuals, and lesbians are continually adopting tattooing as a fashion with coded images to communicate their identities. Claik (2003) explains that tattooing was a fashion technique within various cultural groups and individuals across the world. People sought for distinctive designs created by tattooists who enjoyed the status of artists. Clark (2003) elaborates that tattooists among the Maoris people of the New Zealand enjoyed high professional recognition. The community sought for tattoos and recorded some on skins of corpses to serve preserved samples of the tattooists’ best works. The community personalized tattoo to a point that facial tattoo became a personal signature. Tattooing patterns on the face was also a way of confirming land deals to help in easy identification. According Kaiser (2011), societies associated the feminism as symbolized by leg shaving, bras, skirts, makeups and other female-oriented fashion practices. These associations acted as identity for women within the societies. Feminists then reacted by arguing that fashion was a process of experimentation and not to highlight gender connotations. It is because feminists started agitating for production of clothes fashioned to appear as males’. The group also fought for an end of identification in terms of makeups, skirts bras, and leg shaving. Young people also use fashions to communicate levels of their social integration or knowledge of issues. Fashion sensitive people always search on the trending styles and designs to demonstrate their levels of advancement to the society. Some even want to be the first to introduce new fashions into their societies. This behavior gives such a people a unique identity, recognition and popularity. The underlying motivation for such rush to new fashions is usually attributable to pride that a person seeks. Fashions especially of hairstyles, clothes or bodily physical modifications tend to create a social class. Once out and spreading, individuals within given societies struggle to adopt the fashions so to fit into the perceived superior or informed social class. Individuals who fail to conform to trending styles appear as inferior and backdated. People of high social class have also used fashions to identify with higher economic status. Wealthy people recognize certain unique fashion to adopt a distinction from other in the lower social class. The trend became uniform and known to every person in the given societies. According to Black (2004), beauty salons have become important places for women to manipulate their fashions and emphasize views of self-appearance. Women are continually visiting beauty salons to adjust their hairstyles to line with their personal identities. Black (2004) reiterates that women have increased their visits to beauty salons to improve bodily features to align with fashions that emphasize feminism. Such acts portray individual identity as advocates for the recognition of women and their roles within societies. Some also seek cosmetic surgery to alter their natural physical appearance and reinforce the internal self-perception to the public. Black (2004) argues that as per the issue of fashions, some women have adopted styles to portray their desires to appear masculine. This practice has led to ambiguity among the people practicing the ways. Some women with male feelings have tended to use dressing fashions conventionally associated with men. Some have also resolved for hairstyles that depict that are traditionally male. Women are adopting masculine manners to emphasize the need to appear as masculine also tend to avoid the trending body, cloth and hairstyle fashions for women. Such women also avoid facial makeups and use of female-purposed body lotions and creams (Black, 2004). Fashions have been instruments to show t affiliations to certain cultural practices. According to Kaiser (2011), people from different religious groups select styles that are consistent with their beliefs. For instance, individuals who are ardent conformists to the Islamic religion prefer dresses that cover significant parts of their bodies. Muslim women would cover their heads to the feet to communicate their attachment to the Islamic faith. In fact, Muslims have made dresses covering the entire body part to appear as only Islamic. This fact has made many people within the societies to associate women with long dresses and scarfs covering the head as Muslims. Colors, pattern, and shapes are also aspects of fashion that individuals use to communicate their self-identity. Bright and bold cultures help people communicate positive attitudes and self-assurance. Dark and morbid colors portray individuals as having a negative perception of concepts, insecurity and anxiety (Barker, 2012). Dressing in clothes with busy patterns associated with a show of high self-confidence and “I don’t care” attitudes towards what people think about such portrayals. Individuals have also used fashion to communicate their occupations. Secular musicians dress differently from gospel musicians to fit with a particular identity. Societies perceive secular musicians as flamboyant group and dresses in fashions that sometimes raise moral questions. According to Bernard (2014), gospel musicians usually chose fashions that depict humility and calm. Most gospel singers do not tattoo and are resolve to simple trends that are universally tolerable. In nearly the same way, individuals working in formal sectors adopts official style to identify as trustworthy, respectful, efficiency, honesty, competence, reliability, intelligence, understanding and professional. It is for same reasons that public officers like politicians, ministers, and administrators dress in official clothes and conform to simple fashion styles to gain acceptability and trust within the societies they serve. References BARKER, C. (2012). Cultural studies: theory and practice. London, SAGE. BENNETT, A. (2005). Culture and everyday life. London [u.a.], SAGE Publ. BERNARD, M. (2014).Fashion Theory: An Introduction. Abingdon; OX: Routledge. BLACK, P. (2004).The Beauty Industry: Gender, Culture, Pleasure. 29 West 35th Street; NY: Routledge. CLAIK, J. (2003).The Face of Fashion: Cultural Studies in Fashion. Third Avenue; NY: Routledge. KAISER. (2011). Fashion and cultural studies. Oxford, Berg Publishers. Read More