Intro To Fashion
Why Clothing?
Clothing does more than just cover your
body!
● Influences you as a consumer:
● Someone who buys and uses goods and
services
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Throughout history clothing has had great
meaning:
● Indicated people’s rituals, artistic
imagination, handicraft skills
● Cultures: customs and beliefs of certain
groups of people
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Why Do People Wear Clothes?
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Physical needs
● Protection
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Psychological Needs
● Adornment
● Identification
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Social Needs
● Modesty
● Status
Protection
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Protective clothing: gives physical protection
to the body
Weather
● Sunglasses and Hats: protection from sun
● Sweaters, coats, long underwear, gloves:
protection from wind/cold
Environment
● Shoes: protect feet from soil, hard objects,
hot/cold surfaces
● Sterile gloves, face masks, gowns, scrubs:
protection in medical field
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Occupational Hazard
● Hard hats, steel toed boots, safety goggles:
construction sites
● Specialized clothing to protect from chemicals,
radiation, fire
● Athletes: special shoes, helmets, pads to protect
Enemies
● Protection from attackers
● Centuries ago: body shields and suits of armor
● Camouflage fabric: helps the wearer hide by
blending in
● Come cultures believe certain clothing can give
protection from evil spirits illness or bad harvest
Adornment
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Adornment: Decoration that gives psychological
feeling of well-being through beauty
Differs over time and between cultures
Beauty: quality that gives pleasure to the senses
and creates a positive emotional reaction in the
viewer
People have a need to make themselves more
attractive
Ex: Cold weather hats would be just as efficient in
all black but pretty colors add beauty to it
Large sums of money spent on makeup, hair,
nails, jewelry etc. attest to emphasis on personal
beauty
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Different cultures find different
decorations beautiful because of
their values, traditions and beliefs
Some use vegetable dyes colored
clay to decorate body
Use animal teeth, horns etc for
jewelry
Some use intentional scarring and
bounding for adornment
Individuals have different beliefs
within a culture too
Professional athlete may consider
casual attire more beautiful than
formal wear
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Clothing worn for adornment allows:
● Positive way to express themselves
● Express creativity and individuality
● Contribute to increased self respect, self
acceptance and self esteem
● Improve looks and than favorable attention
● Ways to be different then usual style
● Relief from boredom
● Psychological zest to life
Identification
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Identification: process of establishing or describing who
someone is or what someone does
Identify with a profession:
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Uniforms: outfits or articles of clothing that are alike and
specific to everyone in a certain group of people;
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Can decrease racial, religious and other perceived barriers
Psychological uniform: regular clothing of many people who
dress similarly: you want to “look” like a high school student
or a teacher or a mom
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Group identity is shown when all dress alike
Signals roles people play or belonging to a group
Examples: class rings, badges, religious symbols
Dress codes: written or unwritten rules of what should or
should not be worn by a group of people
Modesty
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Modesty: covering of a person’s body
according to the code of decency of that
person’s society
Differ among cultures and over time
1800s: Immodest for American women to show
ankles
● 1900s: Body mostly all covered even for sports
● 1920s: people were appalled by young women
wearing short skirts but soon became acceptable
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Standards of modesty have greatly changed
over time
Status
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Status: his or her position or
rank compared with that of others
Clothing used to gain higher rank in society
along with achievement and peer approval
This is why people pay more for designer
labels!
Some items have social meanings, show
others what they have achieved (ex: school
letter on athletic jacket)
Ancient times: hunters wore pelts of their prey
to impress others
Why do people select certain
clothes?
Because of their mental image of
themselves:
1. Values
2. Attitudes
3. Conformity vs. Individuality
4. Personality
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You can tell a lot about a time period just
from the clothing that was worn, it is a mirror
of times
Values
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Ideals and beliefs based on what is important to
individuals
Underlying motivation for a person’s actions
Basis of a person’s decisions, lifestyle, and personal code
of ethics
Some people value their own comfort
Some always bargain shop because they value economy
Some want newest nicest things because they value
prestige
Marketers and designers have to make/sell things that will
be valuable to their intended customer
What people do with their money shows their values!
Values changes with age: conformity with middle school,
prestige with middle age, comfort with old age
Advertising influences people’s values, attitude, and
Attitudes
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Formed from values
Individual’s feelings about, reaction
to, other people, their ideas or
things
Learned over a lifetime
Influenced by social and economic
conditions
Passed down from generation to
generation
Family, friends, community are
important in forming them
Conformity vs. Individuality
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Conformity: obeying, or agreeing with, some given standard
or authority
You learn early what is expected of them with the rules of
dress
Peer pressure: influence exerted from peer group plays a
large role in what you wear
Those who do not “conform” risk rejection by the group
Individuality : self expression that distinguishes one person
to another; unique
Choosing styles and colors totally different from friends
Satisfying for own need and adornment while rejecting peer
pressure
Most balance between the two, dressing upon their mood
Personality
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Personality: totally unique characteristics that
distinguish an individual, especially his or her
behavior and emotional tendencies
Influenced by inborn characteristics as well as life
experiences
Studies show certain ways people dress give clues
to their personality
Very decorative wearing apparel: social
Mainly like comfort: have self control and confidence
People who prefer economy over spending lots of
money: responsible, alert, efficient and precise
Today…
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People wear clothes today for the same
reasons they have worn clothing through
history!
Past, Present and Future:
Why and what if...
Predict 3 types of clothing that might evolve to meet the
needs of people in the future keeping in mind...
1. Fur pelts were worn around the body for protection.
2. Body shields and suits of armor protected the body from
enemies.
3. Decorations of animal bones, horns, teeth, shells, seeds,
or feathers made the body more beautiful
4. All members of a specific tribe wore something particular
on their skin or body to identify themselves in a group
5. A loincloth was worn below the waist, even though the
weather was warm enough to go without clothes
6. Hunters wore the pelts of their prey to show others the
number and different types of animals they had killed.