Psychological Influence of Fashion Essay

When one thinks of the identity crisis that plagues people, one is able to discern the connection between fashion and its lure on people. Conformity comes in many forms and affects many aspects of adolescents’ lives. Do adolescents take up a certain way of dressing because everyone else is dressing up that way? Do they let their hair grow long one year and cut it short the next because of fashion? Conformity occurs when individuals adopt the attitudes or behavior of others because of real or imagined pressure from them. Indeed, the pressure to conform to peers becomes very strong during the adolescent years (Santrock, John 1998. p. 211). More than any other outward manifestation of a person’s personality, the clothes has a language all its own. It is a nonverbal system of communication that symbolizes the beliefs and thinking of an individual. In an encounter, before people even speak to one another, their clothing makes a statement that expresses their age, sex, class, occupation and personality (Flynn, Patricia). Clothing has a language all its own. It can range from conventional and traditional to the outrageous and eccentric styles. Dress can identify its wearer with a social group. For example, jeans never go out of style with teens. The difference just lies in the style, cost and labels that identify them as designer. Wearing jeans may symbolize that the individuals are members of the same group (Flynn, Patricia). For example during the 1950’s, teenage clothing styles grew amidst the economic prosperity after World War II. The consumer market targeted those who were pampered and had money to spend on clothes. At the start, the adult designers were the trendsetters in terms of fashion sense. But the teens began to assert their own individuality and sported only the styles they most prefer. To these youth, this was a form of their self-expression (Flynn, Patricia). Image builders give a great deal of thought to the types of images that would have the strongest appeal to the greatest number of people. Merchandisers reason that they could build into their products the same traits that people recognize in themselves. Studies of narcissism indicate that nothing appeals more to people than themselves; so why not help people buy a projection of themselves? That way, the images would pre-select their audiences, select out of a consuming public people with personalities having an affinity for the image. By building in traits known to be widely dispersed among the consuming public the image builders reason that they could spark love affairs by the millions. The sale of self-images expedited the movement of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of clothing, accessories and other beauty products. Thus, the image builders prove again and again that American consumers are becoming self-image buyers. Conclusion Young people, having identified with many models, have incorporated many different characteristics. Now they must integrate, synthesize, and reorganize these, dropping some characteristics and strengthening others. A new, unique and coherent identity emerges, one in which, â€Å"the whole has a different quality than the sum of its parts† (Erikson, 1959, p. 90). Fashion and style exerts a different kind of psychological influence of people, especially adolescents since they are pampered by society. A cast consumer market is bombarded with the advantages of being â€Å"in† a group by adapting a distinctive sense of fashion. It is, therefore, important that people understand the psychological influences underlying this issue. People must be critical in recognizing that merchandisers of many different products connected with fashion probes people’s subsurface desires, needs and drives to find their points of vulnerability. (Santrock, John 1998. p. 211). Among the subsurface motivating factors found on the emotional profile of most of us are the drives to conformity, need for oral stimulation and yearning for security. People must be critical in understanding that once these points of vulnerability are isolated, the psychological hooks are fashioned and baited and placed deep in the merchandising sea for unwary prospective customers, particularly the youth. References Covey, Stephen R. Living the 7 Habits. (1999) Erikson, E. (1959). Identity: Youth and Crisis. New York: W. W. Norton. Fashion. Nationmaster. Retrieved Feb. 21, 2007 at: http://www. nationmaster. com/encyclopedia/Fashion Flynn, P. (1985). Body Language –The Language of Contemporary Fashion. Accessed 12