What Does Fashion Mean?

Fashion can mean different things to different people.  Typically, it means embracing the style, the trend and the comfort of the clothes we wear.  To others, it is a form of expressing personality and how we want people to perceive us.  It is making a statement of who we are to the world around us.

So, how does fashion make a statement?

As a form of self-expression. Aside from being visually appealing, fashion can be transformative as well as expressive of how we are feeling and how we view life. Fashion can be used to convey aspects of one’s identity that they wish to reveal or explore. Fashion can represent the artistic side of a person, or portray the beauty in the different fabrics, shape, color, and accessories they chooses to wear. The most stylish people don’t follow fashion. They wear what compliments their figure and their personality.

So, how can clothes communicate how we feel?

When a man wears a “power suit’, it makes him feel powerful and authoritative. For the women, in addition to the sense of power, it makes her more confident which shows in the attitude she presents. On the other hand, wearing jeans can convey wanting to be laid back and being comfortable by wearing something that is familiar to us. If a man dresses up for a date, it makes him feel more confident and it can show the woman that he is motivated to win her over. When a woman dresses up for a celebration, with her hair and makeup done, it can make her feel more beautiful. Fashion can make us feel a certain way and also help provide an image of what we want to have.
This is a time where the single greatest influence on a first impression is someone’s physical appearance. It is what you choose to wear, the sum of the little details like hair, makeup and accessories, which contribute to how you are seen. From choosing our clothes to picking out the accessories, it all conveys who we are, where we are, and what we have been through.  It can represent the people we choose to be influenced by or a trend that we choose to start. Whether deliberately or unconsciously the choices we make, the style we choose, the mood we are in, tells a story about us. Fashion allows us to be creative, to have an individual identity that makes us special.