Throughout my dress practice interview I noticed a theme of mood with how one dresses. For example, Kevin stated that when he is not feeling that good, he’ll wear sweatpants or jeans; but if he is feeling good about himself or wanting to feel better, he will put on nice pants and a button up shirt. In addition to this I noticed that where you are ultimately effects how you dress. Kevin is from Connecticut and stated that when back home he tends to dress preppy, because that is the trend there. Whereas in New York, he does try to incorporate his preppy style, but he finds himself dressing more neutral- because that is the trend here. When it comes to Kevin’s daily dress practice I noticed that he thinks about his appearance more than I thought. While I know that it is important to almost everyone how they look and appear I never noticed just how much Kevin thinks about what he is wearing. He states that through his outfits he wants to show society that he is to be taken seriously but how he is still approachable. In relation to my dress practice compared to Kevin’s- I say we have similar ideas. When I get dressed in the morning I sometimes take too long putting together an outfit, but this is just because I want to project myself in the most positive way possible through my garments. I do not want to look messy and I do not want to look like I am trying too hard. When thinking about the ways Kevin and I go through our daily dress practice it is interesting to think about how where we are from plays a role in all of this. I am from Upstate New York and Kevin is from Connecticut- the way he dresses reflects where he is from and the way I dress reflect where I am from. I find myself in more dark colors such as blacks and grays whereas Kevin can be seen wearing brighter colors. In addition to this I have found that Kevin wears a lot of flannels and prints where as I like to stay with more solid colors and the occasional stripes, I think this has a lot to do with where we are from and what we are used to people wearing. It is like Susan Keiser says, “Everyone participates, inevitably, in these “conversations” through style-fashion-dress. In the process, individuals explore- in an ongoing, changing way- “Who I am” and “who I am becoming”; this exploration… is the process of subjectivity. Because individuals do not accomplish this exploration completely by themselves- because they think about others as they get dress and because they rely on feedback from others- style-fashion-dress is a social process” (Kaiser, 2012, Pg. 30). This quote ultimately reflecting back to the idea that where you are from effects how you dress- much like it effects Kevin and I in our daily dress practice. Through this interview I learned the ways in which clothing can impact one’s mood and ultimately how we feel about ourselves. Through dress we have the ability to show parts of our body that we are proud of while hiding parts that we do not care much for. In our everyday dress, a lot more thought goes into then other people would believe so. Through dress we can show the world how we want to be perceived and a peek into our past, present and feature, all through variations of fabrics.
(Images keep uploading with green lips- not sure why)
