I
t’s the first day of class. Perhaps you spent last night choosing your outfit hoping to make the right first impression.
Maybe the alarm mysteriously malfunctioned, and you grabbed the first clean clothes you spotted. Maybe you could not care less what fabrics are draped over your body at any given moment. Whatever. My point is: some care, others don’t, and the rest of us are too tired and malnourished— ramen gets old, man— to give thought to what we wear. Regardless, we all make impressions on others, and simultaneously, they make impressions on us, all by the way we dress. You walk into your classroom for the first time, scan the room, find an empty spot and sit down. If you’re like me, you people watch. If you’re not, try it— it’s great. You assess people according to the way they’re dressed, the expressions on their faces and the way they present themselves to others. “Yeah, that girl’s probably a punk. Check out those studded combat boots and the anarchy symbol tattooed on her forehead.” Bingo. It’s usually not that easy, but you get the idea. I’m not saying we’re all judging people in a negative way— ‘cause that’s mean, but we have eyes, and we use them. We try to figure people out, because we’re human, and we want to explain things. Have you ever thought about why we dress the way that we do? Personally, this question has always fascinated me. I dress in a pretty ridiculous fashion, and as far back as I can remember, I always have. Why? Was I genetically engineered to be a weirdo by crazy scientists? Do I love getting stared at when I walk into QuikTrip? Probably not. Everyone creates their own identity through dress and the groups to which they belong. One of my best friends is in a sorority, and we look like complete opposites when we walk to class together. She wears bright neon Polo shirts and boat
shoes, and I usually look like Sandy at the end of Grease. We have different social circles and don’t look like we’d be friends, but we are. In fact, she comes to weekend house shows with my friends and takes me to fraternity and sorority parties. Some of us use clothing to give people cues to what social groups we belong, in order to attract similarly minded people, or to gain “subcultural capital.” Subcultural capital is just a fancy way of describing stuff that’s cool to a certain group. It could be that shirt with your Greek letters on it, or a shirt you bought at that Radiohead show everyone wanted to go to. Clothing gives you cool points. We associate certain clothing styles with certain groups, social statuses, and even personality types. Clothing also gives us clues about things like gender and cultural affiliation. Judging a book by its cover isn’t always spot-on, but first impressions like these give a good starting place for learning more about someone new. We’ve used appearance to signal our place in society for as long as we’ve existed. Subcultures have always used dress and adornment to send messages, and so do modern businesspeople and punks. It’s all nearly a science: much of fashion can be explained through psychology and anthropology. Interesting, right? So next time you’re picking out your outfit, think about what signals you’re sending and how fashion affects you. Start checking out what other people are wearing, and get to know them. Take notes. It’s a big science experiment.
Illustrations by Brittnee Lavender