How Fashion Should Make Us Feel

The role of fashion in the psychological formation of the individual.

“If I were permitted to choose amidst the jumble of books that will be published a hundred years after my death, do you know which one I would pick? No, it is not a novel that I would choose inside this future library, nor a history book: which, when it offers anything of interest, is just another novel. I would quite simply pick, my friend, a fashion magazine in order to see how women will dress a century after my passing. And these rags would tell me more about humanity’s future than philosophers, novelists, preachers, or scholars.”

Anatole France, French poet, journalist, and novelist

Every morning, you wake up, and you put yourself the same exact question, “What shall I wear today?” Or, if you rephrase the subject, you should ask yourself, “What is my mood today?” Either way, our outfits work as a means of communication and expression of our mood at a particular time.

Back in the stone age, Homo Erectus would wear draped animal fur to keep their bodies warm during the cold periods. But at the time of Homo Sapiens, he noticed that the clothes were not only for environmental protection. But, they could also be used as a means of communication with other human beings. 

Through clothes, humans have the opportunity to show their ethnic identity, economic position, and accept or reject the rules of society.

In the last few years, the fashion industry has become the most crucial curator of every current social issue. Fashion designers express their thoughts and concerns about social-political matters through their designs. Their creations are the primary vehicle of their protest. But, to what extent can fashion be used as a means of protest?

What if this has started to become outdated use of this form of Art? Undoubtedly, fashion is an art form that makes it inseparably linked to society and any kind of social expression. On the other hand, fashion also has a commercial structure, and to be able to survive financially, it must also achieve specific business goals.

Fashion offers to people, and especially to women, the unique opportunity to declare their political and social views. Fashion is a vivid and fascinating reflection of popular culture and social trends. The clothes we wear are more than a modest shield from the elements. They declare social rank, status, or political and class bonds or aspirations.