BEYOND THE UNIFORM

If I told you that the picture to the left was the Rutgers University Volleyball team would you believe me? Often we associate and identify people based on the clothes that they wear. Members of the team assured me that there is more to them than the uniform. If you see them on campus wearing their team outfits you would associate them as the volleyball team but each person has a unique style that makes them an individual. One member stated "Style is what you make it, fashion consists of trends that we put together based on what is in at the time". She goes on to mention that even though she is apart of a team and they are required to wear uniforms it is sometimes possible to put a twist on the uniform. I went to a volleyball game yesterday to support my roommate and while watching the game I could not help but to notice the many differences on a team. Some girls wear their hair pulled back while others wear their hair with a braid and a ponytail, some wear headbands. While hair and accesories help to make out who is who, the way they perform on the team helps to distiguinsh each player. You begin to associate them not just as number 15 but you put a name to the uniform; Victoria known for hitting the ball over the net and scoring points everytime she is in the game, while wearing pink wrist bands. In addition, even when off the court these girl have style which make them an individual. When not in season the girls are able to wear the clothes that best fit their personalities. They shop at stores like H&M, Forever21, Hollister and American Eagle. Therefore there is something to a team beyond the uniform. Each individual person helps to make up a team and though they are one on the court they are very much different off the court. It is often hard to get away of associations when being apart of a team but it is up to the individual to add a twist to the uniform. For the team the uniform represents business. They are in a winning state of mind. They look foward to Monday's when they do not have practice and can wear their "regular clothes".

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?

Freshman and the WHY's of Fashion

This week I had the opportunity to interview 5 more students for my project. Approaching people never gets easier however I noticed that some people are just as uncomfortable being interviewed as I am when I have to ask them questions. Interviewing students requires a skill of asking beyond the questions on the page. Thw why's of their choices. I got out of class a little early on Monday which was great because College Avenue was packed with students. I ended up approaching two female students who were sitting together. They decided that they wanted to be interviewed together. I asked them several questions from my list but the one answer that stood out to me was the average price they spend on an outfit compared to the other students that I interviewed so far. Another response that caught my attention was when I asked, Would you borrow clothes from your roomate? Not because they answered no but because one of the girls mentioned that her roomate is not fashionable. This leads me to my next few weeks of study along with interviews I will be reading the history of fashion and forming an answer to the question, What is fashion and what makes someone fashionable?

The students in the picture are freshman at Rutgers University.They each described eachothers look and agreed that the one on the right is Nerd European Chic and on the left Business Funky. They do not shop from ads nor do they shop often, Usually when they shop they purchase alot at a time. They both plan out their outfits the night before but sometimes their outfit might change and their mood changes. Through their clothes they are trying to express Individuality and Fashion.