Fashion

When a woman walks down the street carrying a Louis Vuitton handbag and strutting in her Jimmy Choos, what does she say about herself? Her lifestyle? Where she is from? When a man walks down the street carrying a fake Louis Vuitton handbag and strutting in her cheap plastic pumps, what is he saying about himself? When Trayvon Martin walked through his neighborhood wearing a hoodie, George Zimmerman instantly thought he was a thug. Why? Because dress is intimately tied up with the expression of personal and collective identity. Clothing does make the man, and the woman. Television shows like What Not to Wear are small windows into the reality that external appearances shape personal psychological factors such self-esteem; and clothing also impacts the way other people react. Research in psychology and sociology shows that in addition to the way clothing shapes personal identity, appearance is a marker of...
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