Hutton Honors College
— The Messages We Send with Our Clothing
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Dress to Impress or Dress to Express? The Messages We Send with Our Clothing
There are many ideas about the function of clothing in a society. Clothing is used to keep us warm, to protect our bodies, and to preserve modesty and dignity. But clothing is also used to send messages, blatantly and subliminally. From printed t-shirts to fur coats to mini skirts, our clothes give people ideas about who we are and who we would like to be. They send messages about our professions, our group memberships, our social status, and our individual personalities. For this program, you will be asked to come dressed as who you want to be 10 years from now, and to engage in a discussion about the significance of clothing in societies in the past, how various people have used clothing to send messages, and contemporary views about styles of dress. You will then have the opportunity to discuss your outfit selection for the evening and ponder what your clothing says about you. Participating in this discussion will be Heather Akou, assistant professor in the Department of Apparel Merchandising. "Clothes can suggest, persuade, connote, insinuate, or indeed lie, and apply subtle pressure while their wearer is speaking frankly and straightforwardly of other matters." ~Anne Hollander |
