Self-Concept Paper

Gretta Warner

February 23, 2016

SFL 280-Dynamics of Clothing

Self-Concept Paper

            I did my self-concept assignment on Monday February 15^th, 2016 and Wednesday February 17^th, 2016. On Monday I wore sweats and a running shirt, and on Wednesday I wore a dress with tights and short booties. I was so surprised at the different reactions that I got at school and at the clothing store I visited on both days. The reactions of the people around me were very different depending on what I was wearing. I felt much better about myself on the day that I was dressed up compared to when I was not. This activity has definitely made me realize how much effect my clothing has on my life.

            On the day that I was dressed down, I got a lot less attention and comments.  I normally dress very casual, so this day was most common to my normal attire. My mother was the only one that commented on my casual attire. She wondered why I was dressed down, but she didn’t think much about it after she commented. All other people (friends and strangers) never commented on my attire. People probably wondered why I was dressed down, but they usually don’t comment because it could be awkward or offensive.

I went to a clothing store named Called to Surf in the Riverwoods on both of these days. When I was at this store during my dress down day, I was not really noticed when I walked in the store. This is compared to when I was dressed up, I walked into the store and I was greeted right away. When I was shopping in this store, in my sweats, I was not treated as an important shopper. But when I was wearing a dress, I was treaded as someone who had money to spend and someone who would spend it. I noticed that the workers were nicer to me and would smile more and talk to me more when I was wearing a dress instead of sweats.

There are five psychological factors that are effected by the way we dress. These are found in Elaine Stone’s book, The Dynamics of Fashion they include: boredom, curiosity, reaction to convention, need for self-assurance, and desire for companionship (page 63). As I was at this clothing store for the two different days, I noticed the psychological factor of reaction to convention. This factor is defined as either conforming to the norm or straying from it. When I was wearing sweats I was straying from the norm, and was not treated with the same reaction compared to when I was wearing normal clothes. For this example, the norm was dressing nicer which influenced how I was treated.

My body image definitely changed during these two days. There are three different types of “self’s” the first in actual self, which is defined as how we see ourselves. The second self is called the ideal self, which is how we want to see ourselves. And the third self is the social self, which is usually a mediation between the actual self and ideal self. The social self is most like how we actually are. During this activity, I was able to see my social and ideal self in better light when I was dressed nicer. My actual self-image was lowered when I was dressed down compared to when I was dressed up and looked good.

When I was wearing sweats I did not feel like I was very attractive. And I noticed that when I was dressed up boys would look at me more than when I was wearing sweats. I felt like I was a lot prettier when I was dressed up. I noticed that when I wear sweats I feel like my legs are a lot bigger than when I wear jeans or a dress. There were a lot of small things that really made me feel better about myself when I was dressed up compared to when I was wearing sweats.

After doing this assignment, I decided that I should probably dress nicer more often because I was able to be happier and was able to talk to other people a lot more during the day. Because my self-esteem went up when I was dressed nicer, I was more confident than usual. I got a lot more comments about my outfit, which produced more opportunities for conversation.

Elaine Stone says in her book The Dynamics of Fashion, “Fashion is instant language. It has an impact on every stage of our lives from the womb to the tomb. Fashion involves everything from the clothes we wear, the dances we dance, and the cars we drive (page 27).” I realized after this assignment that I was not always sending the message that I wanted to. I admit that I usually dress more towards the dressed down outfit that I wore during this assignment. But because of this activity I have begun to dress nicer. I have been able to see many benefits even in these two short days including things like better conversation, better treatment by strangers, and even better self-image.