Fashion is one of the both direct and indirect methods of expressing, indicating, and describing themselves without telling people who they are. We probably could guess others’ personalities from their outfits; cultures from their fashion styles; economic levels through the brands people are putting on; and also, mental states and personal stories by the colors, patterns, or textiles on their daily clothes and their accessories. So, I think that is why Heike Jenss said that Fashion is “confirmation of self and others” and “intensely personal.”
But the funny contradiction is that Fashion also could be means of hiding themselves. I have a friend here in Parsons, who is a really shy person. She does not really want other people to know her timid character. So, she has been only wearing very showy and colorful clothes for hiding her real personality, and actually, she said that it also helps her a lot to break her introspective personality down. From this, we might say that Fashion helps people to both hide and overcome the things that people want to break out and get what they want in a positive way.
However, still, it has another obvious inconsistency. As I mention before, Fashion lets people hide the things that they do not show people. But it could deceive not only others but also themselves. When I was in Korea, many of my friends worked really hard and saved their salary for a few months for just buying the luxury brand products. I think it is the kind of their desire to change the position, for they are not satisfied with their current position and want to be in the enviable position. Actually, some of my friends in Korea believe that it changes and improves the quality of their life. Plus, I think this belief does not only happen in Korea; other countries also have similar situation. So, it means that it is quite probable that we could miss our guess.
In conclusion, Fashion is full of contradictions because we can judge and expect about people from their fashion, but it could be entirely contrived. Therefore, I agree with the aphorism, Fashion is “intensely Personal”, however, I am still not sure and have a confusion whether I can agree with the second aphorism that I choose, Fashion is “Confirmation of self and others.”