Does What You Wear Say Something About You?

In the esteemed 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada, there is a scene revolving around the colour blue that shifted how people understood fashion. In this scene, Andrea Sachs (played by Anne Hathaway) guffaws at the inability of a stylist to choose between two (very similar) blue belts after said stylist claims they are so different. She laughs, much like I did, when first watching TDWP because they did look the exact same. Miranda Priestly (donned by Meryl Streep) responds ‘Oh okay… I see you think this has nothing to do with you (…) It’s sort of comical that you think you made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry’ 

Similarly to Andrea, I once thought I was bigger and better than fashion. It is unsurprising, as we all receive messages cloaked in misogyny about fashion; about how it is for those people. It is often argued caring too much about how you look is vapid, a waste of time or in fact even un-feminist! Despite this dialogue erupting from two resembling blue belts, it in fact has less to do with blue, or even the belts but a bigger discussion about how through dress and other forms of body modification, we may be speaking a certain language, singing a specific song. Through the read given to Andrea, watchers can conceptualise that fashion is bigger than just our closets. 

Okay… but how? 

According to cultural theorist Stuart Hall: language is the crucial role of the symbolic domain at the very heart of social life. Now what did he mean by this? ‘Language’ in this sense is not what we speak, but the symbols that we share with one another. Humans are the only animals who have the ability to create meaning through symbols. Fashion acts as a sort of language, our clothes being the symbols. What we wear communicates things about our cultures, class, subcultures (if we are part of one) and even our political beliefs. Indeed, Andrea was completely wrong in thinking both belts were the exact same, because it would have signalled different things to different groups of people. 

Despite popular chatter revolving around choice and an importance on individuality, whether we like it or not, we do not in fact exist in a vacuum. Our thoughts and decisions are influenced by the external world. We absolutely dress for both other people and ourselves. Even within the idea of dressing ‘for oneself’ we dress to signal certain ideas about ourselves that can be understood about people who are similar to us. Even if we do not think of our dress sense in this cut and dry form, it is evident that our fashion choices, in contemporary society, are predetermined by the fashion-Gods. The Powers that Vogue. 

How do we embrace being the same when there are stresses to be unique?

People are panicking online weekly discussing how everybody looks the same and we are losing individuality. Why is this such a fright? It is natural to feel threatened when you notice that fashion is becoming something more and more people care about. It may erupt feelings of you not doing enough yourself, you may start to feel inadequate about how you dress & whether you are ‘cool’ enough. The fear of ‘sameness’ reflects this, it reflects a fear that we eventually are forming into duplicates of one another. Some may even argue that through the boom of fast-fashion (which we hate around these parts) and the heightened importance of influencers, people are becoming more wasteful by virtue of just buying the next thing. It is ironic that we are losing intention about cultivating looks and character and your *actual* self, in a society that places more importance on the self than ever before. I think that it is normal (and good) to be critical of fast fashion and how this is making people care less about one another. However, it is also a normal human desire to want to be similar to people around us, hence why a LOT of people dress in ‘cores.’  Although, I don’t think we should allow this desire to trump living within our values & doing the right thing, especially when we are seeing the adverse effects of fast fashion on the climate and countries around the globe, such as washed up clothes (from our closets!) on beaches in Ghana. 

I recently watched the 1990 documentary ‘Paris is Burning’ that follows the underground subculture of LGBTQ black and Hispanic ballroom. I have been interested in ballroom for quite some time and the documentary was riveting in more ways than one. However, in watching it, one thing you certainly cannot miss is the importance of fashion to this community and in their ballroom practice. Many people in the documentary repeated sentiments of how when they dress differently it’s as though they truly are different, and how their dress informs how they behave and can navigate the world. As the subculture emerged in a world less accepting of black and brown queer or trans people, they shared it was difficult to carve out the life they wanted for themselves. Ballroom was solace from the world, ballroom was a creation of their own world; different categories for different people, embracing all the encompassing parts one can be. I think this documentary is a beautiful testament to how dress can really connect people to each other and how much power there is in sameness. If you choose to watch it, you will see that the uniqueness of each person naturally shines through, even if they’re competing in the same category. 

So, what do we do about all of this?

1. Think about what you want your clothes to say to people! You have autonomy (to an extent) over how you want to dress, and you can say something with what you wear. Clothes act as symbols. It helps to think about what type of person you would want to see you and say ‘they are super cool.’ For me, I really like my clothes to have personality, to look like they have been worn and cherished, so I embrace the scuffs and loose threads. I also care about sustainability so I repair my clothes by hand; adding to the personality of each item. The people who have worn-in, cool clothes are my people, they likely hold similar values about sustainability too. Above all, fashion is meant to be fun. It can be taken both seriously but still be playful.
2. So yes, our clothes do talk for us, but we can choose to use this to our advantage and sing a joyous song. 

• #fashion
• lgbt
• style