Clothing plays a great role in human life since the cavemen first tied a leaf around themselves. In some ancient Indian cultures people wore specific clothes, intense and colorful body paint and jewelry to symbolize faith, or in the case of women fertility. “Many societies passed decrees known as sumptuary laws to prescribe or forbid the wearing of specific styles by specific classes of people. In ancient Egypt only those in high position could wear sandals; the Greeks and Romans controlled the type, color and number of garments worn and the sorts of embroidery with which they could be trimmed.” Clothing was always used as the tool of capturing attention. In the combat-oriented times it was important for women to find strong, protective men to keep the family safe. Usually these men wore animal fur, tooth, bones, and shields and painted combat symbols to demonstrate their place in the community. However clothing has an ancient history, in which it was used in oodles ways as symbolizing or demonstrating something, but what is the difference between clothing and fashion?
According to the oxford dictionary fashion is “a popular or latest style of clothing, hair, decoration or behavior”. In the case of clothing it is a “prevailing style of dress”, usually wore by most of the people of a country or area. It is a sign of communication and gives visual information about the wearer. Fashion is changing in regular bases, according to the social mood of the population. Fashion designers are the ones who define the latest trends, and usually the outfits of famous actors or singers are also used as a source of idea and inspiration. Before the 20th century female seamstresses, made the qualitative dresses, which were only available to the upper classes. Mass production of fashion developed in the 20th century, when fashion industry became a proper business, and the first designers as Coco Channel and Jeanne Lanvin started to “produce chic clothes and popularize certain looks and styles”. Mass production of fashionable pieces made fashion available to more people for lower prices. So fashion is an actual trend, dictated by some people and followed by others, it is used as a sign of communication, and gives a first impression, but it is not the same as a style.
Quoting Edna Woolman Chase who was the editor in chief of the Vogue magazine “Fashion can be bought, style one most possesses”. This sentence basically means that there is a big difference between fashion and style. “Fashion is about the clothes and their relationship to the moment of time they being presented in”, while style is “about you and your relationship to yourself”. Style is not changing based on the mood of other people but according to personal issues and spirit. In the world of fashion there is a hierarchy, with the dictators (like fashion designers, magazine editors) on the top and the followers on the bottom. Fashionable pieces and clothes don’t contain the personality of the followers; it is just a going trend which gives the bases to individually formed sets which show personal identity and are a unique blend of spirit: an own style. This is very important because clothing gives a first impression. Wearing fashionable clothes give the impression of someone demanding, modern, informed and open-minded, while wearing simple trainers can make someone undemanding, refused or careless. To sum up style is making a statement of personal identity, with the use of fashion.
“Dress is a continual manifestation of intimate thoughts, a language a symbol”. Before people are close enough to talk to each other they dress already does this and gives information (or misses information) about the wearer. Not depending on the circumstances (in a bar, on the street) clothes announce sex, age, social class and in some cases occupation. Fashion can also reflect many personal things as origin, personal opinion, taste, sexual desires and current mood. The brain automatically observes these things and registers them, even if people are not able to put these observations in words or are not aware of what is happening. Some of this data is always told by fashion, it depends on individuals and individual abilities if they are recognized or not. Fashion gives basic information about people without having to say a word; similar to a non-verbal language.
According to Oxford Dictionary language is a “system of communication used by a particular country or community”. As it was described in the paragraph before fashion is used as a form of a communication and humans who are a community use it, so fashion can be defined as a language. “It is a language of signs, a nonverbal system of communication”. As a nonverbal language it doesn’t have a grammar but stile has vocabulary. This includes clothing, hair, accessories, and jewelry, make up and body decoration. As a non-verbal form of communication there are no dictionaries to interpret the meaning of pieces. Fashion can be interpreted in many different ways, because every individual can have an opinion of the same shirt. When trying to gain information about someone by its appearance it is important to read the individual pieces together as an outfit not as separate clothes. Fashion is a non-verbal language, it has a vocabulary and anyone could have a different interpretation about the information an outfit gives.
Why are people following fashion? Human nature has a side called imitative instinct. It is natural that humans as a gregarious living being feel better as a part of a community. People follow or copy each other because it is a natural biological protective instinct. People have a need to belong somewhere. At the same time human nature also has a need of detachment, personal prominence. This comes from the fact that every human is different and wants to find him or herself, develop an own personality, while still belonging to the society. Following fashion, being an individual character and being a part of a community is possible by not copying fashion, but choosing items and making them personal. People are a community of different individuals trying to be unique, and fashion is a tool with which this is possible[13]
Following fashion is not about copying the sets of models but using them as an inspiration to create outfits expressing individualities. Having an own style and following fashion are not two different things. The point of being stylish is choosing items matching personality and making them unique. “It’s not about an individual shirt you like, but how you wear it with something else”. Rolling up the skirt of a uniform or wearing two different pairs of shoes is also a form of self-expression, because it demonstrates a personal idea. Having a whole wardrobe full of Gucci or Hollister is not the point of being stylish or fashionable but the act of making these reflect personal identity is: “Clothes say a lot, but how wearing these clothes say more”. Making small changes and daring to show up in something new and unique is the most effective way of self-expression through clothes and fashion, because it reflects to the fact that everyone is different. Following fashion and having a style, which reflects to individual characteristics at the same, time is possible by reforming fashionable pieces, and making them personal.
People are liable to judge others by their look as the book by its cover. This human habit makes others afraid of expressing themselves through fashion and clothes. The fact that people judge often by appearance developed a self-protective side of humans. As fashion can be used for self-expression it can be also used as a shield or protection. “People use fashion to present the image they want”. It’s easy to wear generally popular pieces of clothes and making sets with the total lack of originality not to differ from the normal and merge in the community, which stops people of judging. Fashion however can be used as expressing thoughts and personality it can also be used as a protection to hide from opinions, with simply looking generally.
“Clothes can portrait you in a sweet and innocent or a dark and dirty light”[18]. According to this sentence fashion can also be used to purposely give another image of the wearer than its normal character. People are not only using fashion to express themselves or hide but as a device of success, for example in the business world. Making an impression can get people to wear clothes out of their comfort zone. As an example people wear uniforms in schools and at workplaces because it is required, and without it the opportunity of studying or working there is not available. People can easily make the impression they want by wearing the proper clothes. For example supermodels or teachers would be authentic in trainers. However these clothes can still be fashionable they are not giving a personal statement of the wearer, because they are just tools and only have the goal to give the wearer another image than its own (but in some cases this image can match the personality of the person). Fashion can be used several ways and it is also good to directly manipulate people by giving a maybe false impression with appearance.
“Whatever the historical context, clothing and fashion have been used to denote wealth and status or to differentiate between social groups”. This sentence reflects on the fact that fashion is used as a status symbol. Clothing was always used to show social differences, for example Jane Austin and Charles Dickens wrote down how the upper class was judged upon their clothes, which were ornate and arty while the lower class whore monochrome, torn materials. This part of fashion can give proper or false information about someone, because it is about expectations and circumstances. As an example businessmen wear expensive brands like Boss or Armani to show their wealth, and impress business partners. This part of fashion is about self-expression because the social differences are shown and the facts of being wealthy, poor, middle classed are part of somebody’s character. Fashion was and will be used as a status symbol, and with representing the wearers place in the society it gives information about him or her.
In conclusion fashion is an always-changing prevailing style of dress, which is used as a form of communication, a non-verbal language. It always gives basic information about the wearer as current mood, personal opinion, social class, taste or occupation. People do use fashion as a form of self-expression. Humans feel an urge to be unique, show they character and give a good first impression, which is always given by appearance. Expressing personality through fashion requires having a style. Mostly people express themselves through fashion by choosing some fashionable pieces and making them personal. Although fashion is used for self expression sometimes it is hard to realize if someone is using fashion to hide from the preconceptions by copying general looks, to purposely manipulate others or to only follow fashion because it is a status symbol. I think it is important to express ourselves, because everybody is different and has valuable characteristics which should be respected.