Clothing and the Times, Essay Example

The manner by which humans dress up is often defined as a meaningful way of presenting themselves as individuals thus creating a sense of impression on who they are. This is how important fashion has become through the years. At some point, the said condition does not only affect the vision of people regarding themselves but also how they define their character with the different conditions of the society and the groups that are present therein. Fashion and its role in the society have strongly changed through the years, which specifically defined the industry as a whole. This change has been largely influenced by the introduction of liberalization in the modern society.

The principles of liberalization, which is strongly rooted on freedom, dictated several aspects of living in the society, which in turn made it possible for fashion in itself to take a huge twist that indicated change regarding the role that it plays and the condition by which the human society recognizes its importance. Gone are the days when clothing simply meant “clothing” as it is. Now, clothing means identity while it also establishes a strong distinction between human individuals who identify themselves to belong to a specific group in the community. Notably, this condition indicates that clothing has become a source of social status that human individuals consider to be very important especially in relation to how they establish other’s impression on who they really are. These are only among the few reasons why the fashion industry has become one of the most successful and strongly defined industries around the world today. True, it is because of this that the production of new clothing lines never come to a stop as the society’s recognition of fashion and clothing continues to change through time.

References:

Breward, Christopher, The culture of fashion: a new history of fashionable dress, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2003,

Cumming, Valerie: Understanding Fashion History, Costume & Fashion Press, 2004,

Hollander, Anne, Seeing through clothes, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993,

Hollander, Anne, Sex and suits: the evolution of modern dress, New York: Knopf, 1994, I