Clothing Trends - Essay Example

? Fashion Culture Fashion Culture Introduction: Clothing is a fundamental need of human and people from all societies wear clothes since pre-historic time. Clothing trends have grown and changed over the centuries with human needs and requirements, and clothes have now eventually become identity of different people living in various corners of the world. Initially, body protection against extreme climate was the main purpose of clothes, but modern scholars describe that clothing is an important mean of non-verbal communication that functions as a mark of recognition at the global level. Time has added a variety of style, fashion, and trends in clothing; while, it is also considered that clothes serve as symbolic and social representation of people. People judge each other through their dresses and the way they carry their clothes. People belonging to different cultural, religious, and ethnical backgrounds wear dresses, which show their personality and traditional background. This paper aims to examine the role of clothes in our society and ways different types of dresses or garments tend to portray personalities of their wearers and how other people observe people wearing particular dresses.   Today, we observe people wearing several types of dresses with different designs and styles. Typically, dresses work as indicators of attributes because attires of people tell about their gender, age group, religion, marital and social status, and profession (Zion and Kozleski 2005). In modern societies, clothes still work as an indicator but their sign patterns have modified (Zion and Kozleski 2005). Along with the traditional presentation of attributes and belongings of people, now clothes also work as a language and speak about person`s preferred style, dressing sense, and interests (Zion and Kozleski 2005). Every dress and ways in which individuals carry their dresses convey some message and People have become liberal enough to select the message they want to convey to other people of the society (Feinberg, Mataro and Burroughs 1992).  Clothes also provide information about financial status of a person and even the type of occasion the wearer wants to attend. Different types of attires have different impact on observers and society judges other person`s qualities and interests based on his/her dressing sense (Feinberg, Mataro and Burroughs 1992). It is also believed that clothing and dressing sense of people is closely related with each other and people tend to do different roles when they wear different dresses (Fiske 2010). Additionally, other people who do not wear same sort of dresses observe others with their own perspectives. Additionally, it has also been found that the behavior and response of people towards specific dresses varies based on their cultural rituals and societal environment. Also, religion plays an important part in molding people`s perceptions towards particular practice (Bevan and Wengrow 2010). For this paper, we have selected three popular dresses of the world, which show cultural identity, behavior of the people who wear them, and response of those who observe others wearing specific attires and build a perception of the identity of the wearers.  Selected Attires: Attires selected for this paper to illustrate the role of clothes and their influence on people`s behavior and observation include jeans, sari, and veil or scarf. Jeans: More than hundred years ago jeans was invented and the Americans were the early adopters of the jeans. Jeans is made up of stiff cloth material which is also for designing different other types of dresses such as pants, shorts, skirts, and jackets, but when we talk about jeans in simple terms it means jeans pant, which has given rise to its other forms (Bevan and Wengrow 2010). Initially, the jeans was introduced for cowboys and workers especially those who used to work in factories because of its sturdy material. With the passage of time the jeans became popular throughout the world and became a fashion icon for the teenagers (Bevan and Wengrow 2010). From its original work-wear purpose it has now become very popular across the globe mainly because of its comfort and durability. Jeans is considered an identity of the trendy fashion as well as casual clothing at the same time (Bevan and Wengrow 2010). Popularity and usage of jeans is incomparable with any other garment or attire. Although, jeans is most popular type of the casual dress but there are still many people who do not wear jeans and observe others in a different manner (Fiske 2010). At first place, it is believed that people who wear jeans behave in an energetic way. There could be many reasons behind this view of people who wear jeans. Initially, jeans was solely associated with factory workers who had to be energetic and active all day long and now jeans is mostly associated with teenage boys and girls who are passionate and energetic (Bevan and Wengrow 2010). Thus, those who wear jeans tend to behave in an energetic way because they want to feel and present themselves as young and trendy individuals of the society. It is a known fact that an event requires specific dress and particular behavior, which considerably matches with the attitude of a person (Bevan and Wengrow 2010). In the case of jeans we cannot particularly mention any event or occasion because it is the most common and casual attire worn by people on a daily basis (Bevan and Wengrow 2010). For instance, people-wearing jeans in the western countries is a normal practice to everyone. No one notices people around wearing different styles and types of jeans. Mainly because it is a well-followed trend in the Western and many other developing countries, but when someone wears jeans in strict Islamic countries people show weird reactions towards that individual (Miller and Woodward 2012). Automatically, when a person or group of people wearing jeans in the Muslim societies observe others’ reactions then they start feeling uncomfortable in their jeans (Miller and Woodward 2012). It is noteworthy that the fashion of jeans is equally popular among women of the Western societies. Now, with the advancement of media women of the developing Islamic nations have also adopted the fashion of wearing jeans with different tops (Miller and Woodward 2012). Undoubtedly, the dressing of the Western women with jeans and dressing of the Eastern women with jeans is different but conservative or in other words a religious society may not accept modification in the clothing sense of women (Miller and Woodward 2012). On other hand, it has been observed that jeans is considered to be a Western and modern attire thus, many people adopt it to show that they are modern and they are well-aware of the current fashion in the Western society (Fiske 2010). Similarly, people who live in less liberal Eastern societies and observe others wearing jeans with t-shirts consider that the wearers are great admirers of the Western culture and they have left their own cultural norms and values behind. However, situations and perceptions of the urban societal members have now been changed and they have accepted jeans as an essential casual wear of both men and women (Fiske 2010). People especially young girls and boys feel comfortable in jeans rather than their traditional dresses. It is because in formal or traditional dresses they think that they have to alter their behavior accordingly, which also limits their energetic actions and fun moods (Bevan and Wengrow 2010). Jeans is the most common and comfortable clothing that inspires almost everyone. Additionally, no other garment is popular and causal like jeans, and today, it is the foremost choice of all age people. However, people behave differently when they carry jeans in their particular style and other who observe them (Bevan and Wengrow 2010). It depends on various factors including age group, societal heritage, culture, religious boundaries and values of traditions. Today, people are very conscious about their looks and styles and they always wanted to adopt what makes them look, modern, and fashionable (Bevan and Wengrow 2010). Therefore, jeans is mostly associated with style, versatility, trend, fashion, and comfort of all people who understand the importance of jeans and wear it on a daily basis as most affordable casual wear. Combination of jeans with different types of tops also gives different meaning and look to the entire personality of the wearer. T-shirt is the most common and suitable combination with jeans, which completes the meaning of jeans in true sense (Bevan and Wengrow 2010). However, people have adopted versatile styles and young individuals belonging to various communities have their own specialized designs and ways in which they wear jeans. Versatile manners of carrying different tops with jeans give distinguishing thoughts to those who observe people in various styles (Bevan and Wengrow 2010). For instance, the teenage individuals who wear jeans mostly with black shirts and heavy metal accessories are categorized as emos. Emos are mixed stereotypes who uphold their own notions, lifestyles, and daily practices, but people recognize them from their dressing styles (Bevan and Wengrow 2010). In such cases, aim of these stereotype groups are accomplished because they want to make their different identity in front of the society through their styles and particular dress designing and the society also starts recognizing such groups with their different styles and fashions (Bevan and Wengrow 2010). Sari: Sari is a beautiful and famous attire of the sub-continent Asia, which has now become popular in many parts of the world including some of the Western countries mainly because of diversified cultural trends in countries including USA, UK, and Australia. Researchers have explored that there are few historical records in India about origin of the dress, which is popularly known as Sari (Tarlo 1996). However, the history of sari illustrates that sari is an Indian attire, which is an unstitched cloth that women wear around their bodies. Sari is a Sanskrit word, which means a strip of cloth to hide the body that demonstrates a body-hugging manner in the earth surface (Tarlo 1996). It has been noticed that Sari is a cultural as well as religious dress of Hindus and initially, it had no link with fashion and trends of the country. It is the oldest form of the Indian dress that dates back to almost 5,000 years. Indian women wear saris in their daily routine and they feel proud to wear their traditional dress. Mainly, because the Indians follow Hindu religion and Hindu women wear sari because their goddess used to wear it (Leslie 2007). Since it is a traditional Indian dress therefore people living in India do not intend to respond in a different manner when they observe women in saris. However, there is a different concept in relation to the motifs that are designed on saris (Tarlo 1996). As we have discussed that clothes are good communicators and they reflect identities of the people. Likewise, researchers have observed some notions among Indians in this regard. For instance, a mango shape motif known as paisley if printed on a sari shows that the origin of the wearer is unknown (Tarlo 1996). Additionally, an elephant print on sari shows that the wearer is the follower of god Ganesh, while seed shape motif plays a role to distinguish those who are the devotees of Lord Shiva. Similarly, there are various types of designs and motifs that are printed on sari to categorize the followers of gods of the Hindu religion (Tarlo 1996). In this way, people easily recognize the wearer and their traditional believes about goddess. Apart, from designs on saris, colors of saris also play an important role to reflect the personality of the wearer. For instance, bright color silken saris symbolize those women who are newly wed, whereas white color cotton material saris indicate that the woman is a widow (Tarlo 1996). These notions and concepts about designs and styles are confined to the Hindu religion particularly within India. Furthermore, it has been observed that with the passage of time concepts have changed and popularity of the Indian cinema at global level has introduced the Indian culture in many parts of the world. Clothes and dress designs are most important aspects of the Indian culture’s impact on other countries (Bruzzi 1997). For instance, as America has become a multicultural society over the years and a variety of traditional dresses and practices can be observed in its social setup. Sari symbolizes India and the Hindu religion in foreign countries because when people observe any lady in sari they immediately recognize her native homeland and religion (Bruzzi 1997). Additionally, it is noticed that an image has been set about the Indian culture and women so when other people observe ladies in saris they instantly construct an identity of those women, who are mostly consider experts in the house hold activities and dedicated mothers and those who usually serve their entire lives for the sake of their families within boundaries (Bruzzi 1997). This is the trend of India and most Hindu women spend their lives in this way. Wearing sari while living away from homeland means that people want to show devoted love and passion they have to maintain and promote their cultural values and pass them on to their children. Love for religion and culture is the main reason behind increasing population of the Indian women who wear saris in the US (Bruzzi 1997). Whereas, critics have different perceptions and they believe that the major reason behind the increasing number of those who wear saris in the US is the media effect. Media has created passive thoughts among people and has played a major role creating an image of those who wear saris (Bruzzi 1997). For instance, in present Indian movies actresses wear saris to represent themselves in a sexy and attractive way. Thus, this image has been set in the people`s mind about wearers of saris specially those who intend to reveal their body parts in this attire (Bruzzi 1997). People who strongly believe that women wear sari to reveal their body parts and to attract males towards themselves consider sari as a vulgar dress and do not think well about its wearers. Consequently, people uphold different ideas about this Indian garment as differentiating notions are now associated with this dress via media sources and growing Indian population in the foreign countries (Bruzzi 1997). Also in some societies Sari is considered as a formal dress and young women wear it occasionally specially in weddings for example, in Pakistan. However, Pakistan is an Islamic state and people strictly oppose Indian trends and cultures, but again media is also influencing the Pakistani citizens. Eventually, young Pakistani women have also adopted Sari as their favorite attire and mostly women prefer wearing Sari at least in one function of their family wedding events (Tarlo 1996). Additionally, another fact that has been observed in Pakistan’s social setup is related to the role of sari as a personality and marital status reflector. In Pakistan, unmarried young girls are generally not allowed to wear saris before marriage. However, it is not a strict rule, but it is followed in various parts of Pakistan. In this way, sari plays role as an indicator of marital status of women in the Sub-Continent (Tarlo 1996). As far as, the behavior of sari wearers is concerned it again depends upon the trend and environment of the society. Such as, in India women behave normally and easily do their routine work in this attire (Tarlo 1996). However, in countries where non-Indian women try to wear saris behave in a formal way because they do not feel comfortable in sari and they wear it occasionally. Veil or Scarf: Veil or scarf is a type of thin garment worn by women to cover their heads and some parts of the face. From a religious point of view, veil is considered as an article of dressing mostly used by Muslim, Judaist, and Christian women who take it as an important religious obligation. Historical records showed that traditionally women strictly used to wear veil because in these religions veil is considered as a protection for women, which also maintains women honor and modesty in the society (Guindi 1999). Eventually, practice of wearing veil became limited to the religious people who live their lives according to the laws of their religion. Modernity and media influence has reduced the trend of veil among younger women. Moreover, it could be said that the media has also changed the real purpose of veil by adding various styles and designs in it. Intellectuals have highlighted that today women are rarely observed in traditional veils (Guindi 1999). However, women have started wearing veil having a variety of styles and with other clothes such as with jeans and tops. In the above-mentioned religions, veil is not only for women, but there are also different sorts of veils for men, but they are not obliged to wear it (Guindi 1999). Behavior and response of those who wear and observe people in veil also depends upon the rituals and norms of the society in which the wearer is observed. Additionally, in case of veil the media effect is even more intensed than any other attire mainly because of its association with the religion Islam. When in Muslim countries people observe women with veil they naturally observe and think well about the wearer. They think that the woman is close to God and she wants to follow religious laws devotedly, and she belongs to a good religious family of the society. Similarly, women living in a religious society also feel comfortable in their attires and behave sophisticatedly while wearing veil in public. They tend to show good and respectable behavior motivated by their followership of their religion and while wearing veil they do not attempt any such action, which could raise negative views regarding their religion. However, the situation is different in some non-Muslim countries due to negative images of the religion Islam being portrayed by the media and other influential groups. Muslims are wrongly considered to be associated with terrorism in the Western world and everyone feels that Muslims are mostly involved in the terrorist activities and mostly they are viewed as extremists. For this reason, the response of the societal members towards veil wearing men and women is not good (Hasan 2006). Due to various disastrous incidents, perceptions about veil wearing women and men have changed from honor and dignity to extremism and terrorism. Consequently, when non-Muslims of the Western countries such as UK and US observe women or men with veil they do not think well about them and tend to often treat them in an unethical manner (Hasan 2006). It is mainly because of the image that has been set in their minds that those who wear veil are actually involved in terrorism. Similarly, when men or women wear veil in countries away from their native lands they tend to behave in a good manner because they are usually religious people and they do not want to spoil the image of their religion. However, when they observe weird or degrading response of other people towards them they do feel uncomfortable in their own religious attire (Hasan 2006). Sometimes, unpleasant response of others towards veil wearers is only because of their religious dressing influencing their own reactions and moods. On other hand, the identification of religious thoughts and practices through veil also help people from the same background to recognize each other in the foreign countries (Hasan 2006). When someone finds other person wearing a veil in a specific style then a sense of belonging is developed which often generates communication between unknown people and they offer their help to each other while living in the foreign countries. Clothing style speaks before person and symbolizes particular norms and social practices of the community. In this way, veil has become a symbol of the religious people who seek to maintain their religious and cultural practices, and to promote their religious practices among those who are unaware of its purpose (Guindi 1999). However, images play a major role in altering veil wearers` behavior and response of others towards them. As it is discussed that due to the extremist practices, the image of veil wearers is not good and consequently, response of observers is also repulsive (Guindi 1999). As a result, veil wearers have changed their styles and perceptions towards veil or scarf and many of them have left wearing it because veil has endangered their lives while living in those regions, which have been hit by extremist religious people (Guindi 1999). It could be understood that clothes do not only play role to represent personality of a person or wearer, but observations and perceptions of others can also affect the practices of the wearers. Conclusion: From the above discussion about the role of clothes in the society, behavior of wearers, and response of observers it could be understood that undoubtedly clothes play the role as a language between people. Before indicating the personality of the wearer, clothes tell about people`s religions, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds. Today, due to the globalization and diversified cultural trends, fashions and dressing styles have merged as it has been observed in case of jeans. Additionally, with media influences the cultural and religious dresses are not only confined to their followers but everyone is free to adapt fashion or trend he/she wants to adopt to look modern and decent. Therefore, it could be concluded that people behave with respect to the attire they wear and the occasion they attend, but most importantly they behave according to the cultural environment of the society in which they carry their personal dressing style. Similarly, observers also judge people through their dresses and garments based on the traditional or modified environment of the community. List of References Bevan, A. and Wengrow, D., 2010. Cultures of Commodity Branding. Walnut Creek: Left Coast Press. Bruzzi, S., 1997. Undressing Cinema: Clothing and Identity in the Movies. London: Routledge. Feinberg, R., Mataro, L. and Burroughs, W., 1992. Clothing and Social Identity. Clothing and Textile Research Journal, pp.18-23. Fiske, J., 2010. Understanding Popular Culture. New York: Taylor and Francis. Guindi, F., 1999. Veil: Modesty, Privacy and Resistance. New York: Berg. Hasan, I., 2006. Muslims in America: What Everyone Needs to Know. Bloomington: AuthorHouse. Leslie, C., 2007. 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