Dressing the Individual
Graphic by: Agnes Lee
As I’m sitting here, typing this, alone in my worn gray sweats and track-and-field t-shirt from high school, I wonder, what does it really mean to dress for the self? The term “dressing for yourself” is thrown around as something ill-defined, supposedly positive, and perhaps, self-expressive and self-assuring. How much would I care about my outfits if no one was there to see me? My closet would probably be far more sparse. Clothing, undoubtedly, is sturdily bonded to social situations. We dress differently whether we’re going to work, school, parties or just staying at home, adapting based on what is expected of us in different social situations.
Through a social psychology lens, we might explore how people are categorized based on the clothes that they wear. People who dress similarly are sometimes perceived as similar and grouped together in our stereotype-hungry minds. We might look at how clothes and status are also tied, pointing to how people sometimes place others in a hierarchy based on how they present themselves and what they wear. And then, we might look at how clothing affects attractiveness, as studies have shown that clothing can affect how we perceive people’s sociability, personality and overall appeal. Stereotypes, status and attractiveness all demonstrate how important fashion is to social scenarios. So does clothing still retain importance when separated from its social aspects?
Aamu Song Reddress. Image courtesy of My Modern Met.
As I’m sitting here, typing this, alone in my worn gray sweats and track-and-field t-shirt from high school, I wonder, what does it really mean to dress for the self? The term “dressing for yourself” is thrown around as something ill-defined, supposedly positive, and perhaps, self-expressive and self-assuring. How much would I care about my outfits if no one was there to see me? My closet would probably be far more sparse. Clothing, undoubtedly, is sturdily bonded to social situations. We dress differently whether we’re going to work, school, parties or just staying at home, adapting based on what is expected of us in different social situations.
Through a social psychology lens, we might explore how people are categorized based on the clothes that they wear. People who dress similarly are sometimes perceived as similar and grouped together in our stereotype-hungry minds. We might look at how clothes and status are also tied, pointing to how people sometimes place others in a hierarchy based on how they present themselves and what they wear. And then, we might look at how clothing affects attractiveness, as studies have shown that clothing can affect how we perceive people’s sociability, personality and overall appeal. Stereotypes, status and attractiveness all demonstrate how important fashion is to social scenarios. So does clothing still retain importance when separated from its social aspects?
In exploring if we can use fashion in a way that is entirely personal and for the self, I spoke with a few students at Northwestern about what they think it means to “dress for yourself.” At first we spoke particularly about what it means to dress nicely or fashionably for yourself. Paul Sullivan, a second-year studying economics, says he dresses nicely both for himself and for others.
“When I look good I feel good. I want people to have a certain perception of me, and I feel like being fashionable is a cool trait to have,” Paul says. “To be honest, I feel like dressing for myself and for others are interconnected. My idea of what looks good is based on what other people think looks good. Fashion does not exist in a vacuum.”
Janie Xu, a sophomore in the Weinberg school of arts and sciences, also spoke on confidence and perceptions in relation to dressing for the self.
“I dress for myself. I dress for confidence and for the occasion,” Janie says. “When I dress nice I feel confident, and it is a form of self expression because I get to be creative with how I want to be perceived. I still consider dressing for how I want to be perceived as dressing for the self.”
In my discussions with Paul and Janie, the social and personal effects of dressing nicely seemed to overlap. When I spoke with Tianna Randall, a sophomore majoring in computer science and cognitive science, she told me that she sometimes dresses up for herself and that her decision to do so comes from how she is feeling on a certain day and how her clothes will affect her mindset.
She says, “Looking good for myself are those days when I wake up and I just decide to try a little harder that day. Like, ‘Oh today I’m gonna do eyeliner because I like the way it looks and I think it will be a fun challenge.’ Or, it’s my own way of proving to myself that I am in control of the day. The reason behind me dressing nice is very self created, very internal instead of external.”
Paul, Janie and Tianna all said that they do not choose to dress nicely everyday. They all mentioned comfort and time as reasons that they might dress in ways they consider more casual and plain.
“If I wake up in the morning with five minutes to get dressed and run to class, I will probably just throw on joggers or leggings,” Tianna says.
Janie always tries to match her outfits, and Paul tries to color code his fits, but both say that on an average week day they won’t think very hard or spend a lot of time on choosing clothes.
“My ‘nice’ clothes are less comfortable and a little bit colder to wear,” Janie says. “So the main reason I don’t wear them everyday is for convenience.”
When Tianna thinks of comfort, she also thinks of how body language shifts from formal to casual contexts. “In public there is an expectation to sit in my chair correctly and to stand straight which is slightly uncomfortable. However, if I was in a more private setting I might want to put my feet under me while I sit. I might want to lean back more, and then maybe I would prefer to be in more comfortable, more casual clothing,” she says.
On the days that these students do decide to dress up, they are usually going out in public and face certain expectations, maybe including those Tianna mentioned about posture, or perhaps through dress codes or the basic judgements that people make based on appearance. Regardless, I wanted to understand if any of them would decide to dress up when completely alone. With the continued prevalence of the COVID-19 virus and the ongoing need to quarantine, it is not entirely rare for people to spend days or weeks without seeing people. Like Paul said, fashion does not exist in a vacuum, but our clothing choices when we are isolated could perhaps give us more insight into what we are truly choosing to wear for ourselves and what we are choosing to wear for others.
Sophomore Cydney Johnson says she would not put effort into her outfits if they weren’t going to be seen. “Usually, when I dress well or in a fancy way it is because I know that I will be seen. I am comfortable looking disheveled if I will only be around myself or people I am comfortable with,” Cydney says.
Janie expresses similar sentiments, saying she would only dress up in private to try on outfits before wearing in public. Paul and Tianna, however, both say they have put effort into dressing nicely when completely alone for reasons other than testing what to wear in public.
Paul says, “When I’m feeling good about myself I might put on a fit and look in the mirror even if I know nobody else is going to see it.”
Tianna laughs when I ask her the question and tells me, “Yes. It is a pastime of mine to put on a nice dress and a full face of makeup and sit there and watch TV. There are two reasons I would do it. The first is to practice doing makeup, and then once I’ve done it I want to pair it with a nice dress. The second is if I don’t feel like I’ll have a chance to wear something in public. If I have many dresses and nowhere to wear them, I might wear one just for myself in private.”
In my own experience, I have a beaded friendship bracelet that I sometimes wear in private, despite it being an extra step to getting changed. I don’t usually wear it in public because it does not match with my outfits and it’s not part of how I want others to perceive me. I have a beaten up pair of leopard print Nike sneakers from years ago that I no longer wear outside, but I still slip on indoors for no particular reason other than for their sentimental value. I know someone who buys costumes for all of their favorite TV characters, wearing them occasionally in private, despite being a lot harder to slip on than some sweats and a t-shirt. The clothes people pick when dressing for themselves might be centered around aesthetics. However, it seems that oftentimes, when dressing for ourselves, things like comfort, creativity, memory, mood and identity are at the forefront of our minds.
Societal stigma also influences people’s decisions on what to wear in public. Dressing with purposeful disregard to gender performance is still stigmatized in certain places and cultures, and consequently, often presented only in private. The conversation of stigmatized dress is complex and intimately related to identity and what it means to truly dress for oneself.
Even in private, people often still care about how they dress. A 2010 study examined the relationship between mood and clothing choice by presenting the sample of women with a range of outfits to try on. The researchers found that clothing could be powerful in changing emotional states. Maybe, wearing something cute or soft makes you feel happy or calm. Maybe you have a graphic tee with a funny quote that makes you laugh. Maybe you have a particularly loud outfit that you feel boosts your personality. Fashion can be a deeply personal experience that influences our emotions and our state of mind. It can be relevant anywhere at any time. “Alright bye,” says Tianna. “Maybe I’ll go put on my prom dress and watch the bachelor.”