Fashion and Identity

On my quest to find out why college students wear what they wear, I have been reading chapters from several different books about fashion, the history of fashion and so on. This week I read chapter 10 of Cristopher Breward's Fashion. Chapter 10 entitiled, Fashion and Identity traces the history of Fashion and how it relates to identitiy. It talks about how fashion has emerged over time and how people adapt to certain trends based on where they live or how they identify themeselves. Breward writes,"In the drift towards anonymity and alienation that followed the rise of industrial capitalism and urbanization, the comunicative power of clothing emerged as an important tool, both for guranteeing a sense of belonging and as an aid to identification"(pg.217). Breward also discusses how "fashion can communicate individual passions and authentic cultural meanings as effectively as it contrives to disguise or mould them". When reading this section the first picture that comes to mind is Muslim people and how you can most likely identify a Muslim based on their clothes. Or even a uniform. Many businesses and schools have workers and students wearing uniforms so that it becomes easier to identify them. In relation to college students, fraternities and sororities have colors and symbols that help outsiders to identify them. Generally you tell that he or she is apart of this organization because they are wearing this. In the same token Fashion sometimes expresses who we are or what we group we want to be associated with. People who tend to play in rock bands generally wear black, metal chains, ripped jeans and so on whereas someone who is an artist might wear jeans with paint on them with bright colors more of a funky look.
In addition Breward also discusses the "teenage pheneomenon" and the Subcultural Theory. He talks about in the 1950s and 1960s how teenagers would come up with ways to be more creative with their clothing and drift away from trends.They would come up with "deliberate ways in which like-minded groups mark their differences from the dominant culture and their peers by utilizing the props of material and commercial culture". Somehow society always found away to "redirect the original subcultural challenge back to the cycle of trends associated with western consumer capitalism"(222). Though many people try to associate their outfits as unique by adding an accesory generally many college students folllow trends. When conducting interviews I noticed that more than half of the students that I interviewd own a pair of uggs and read fashion magazines that "inspire" their choices in clothes. Many of us have become controlled by consumer capitalism and the constant need to buy what is popular or what the stars are wearing. People then associate us with the labels and refer to our clothes ex."thats the dress like Beyonce wore at the Golden Globe Awards" insead of "I like that dress on you because it fits well". Is it safe to say we are what we wear? Can you still have your own identity if you follow trends?