How are fashion and appearance central to the construction of social Essay

How are fashion and appearance aboriginal to the construction of favorable identities Discuss, with reference to specific examples - Essay ExampleFashion plays a very important role in this process, for it is a way to express our personality, to state our beliefs, to bring our likes and dislikes. Fashion is a skilled architect for our bodies, using colours, shapes and textures to make up speckles of clothing, which combined in a particular way produce, at their turn, a graspable, yet eccentric image of our identity. As Bennett states in Culture and Everyday Life (2005) fashion embodies a range of symbolic values which are collectively understood inside and across different social groups. Therefore, by dressing in a certain way and creating a particular appearance for ourselves, we can send bulge particular messages ab out(p) our character, education, financial success, interests and intentions, even sexual preferences. After all, in this fast and complicated world we have very few seconds to make an impression, this is wherefore fashion is a key factor which will help us express all of who we are trough our style and choice of clothing. A piece of clothing can make one feel inhibited, or on the contrary, free and daring, nostalgic for the past or a visionary of the future. The right enclothe can help us accomplish our goals and better interact with the people surrounding us. Therefore, given the complex nature of fashion as a central part of our society I will focus on three major aspects feminism and the way fashion has helped women define and change their social roles and identities, youth and their use of fashion to make statements about their place in the society, as well as their personalities and in the end, intercultural exchange and the way one can create a unique style by combining fashion elements from different cultures. I will start with a short historical map out and thus begin with the Medieval times, since it is considered a period mark ed by darkness, rigid ideology and strict social delimitations. This is why fashion did not mystify any exceptions clothes were used to set specific social boundaries and thus, dictate social identities. First of all, fashion was inspired at court and it included carefully tailor garments, which offered information about the social status of the person that was wearing the clothes. It included heavy dresses, which did not allow women the privilege of fast movement and which reversed into society as little involvement and obedience. The clergymens simple tunics were supposed to represent their penitence and modest life. The peasants poor dressing was a result of their fix at the bottom of the Feudal Pyramid of social order. As we slip into the modern era, towards the 18th and the 19th century, fashion still remains a wealth-dominated area. However, unexampled social roles appear, such as public magistrates and the militia, which mark their social identity by particular clothing a nd uniforms. The tailoring business develops rather faster and cheaper replicas of high-fashion, room decorator clothes became more than accessible for women belonging to lower social classes and disposing of smaller wealth. Luxury was not limited to the elite or the metropolitan any more (Breward, 1995). However, women continued to be restrained in movement by their clothes, which included the corset and the long dresses womens dresses were composed of large quantities of fabric and different make needed different kinds of dresses, factors which