“Omg, what do she have on? Her lace front is all wrong (cause she ratchet), Give me the phone I’m finna take this heffa picture. Boy bye not with them shoes on (cause she ratchet).”
These lyrics come from the song "Ratchet Girl Anthem," made popular by YouTube stars Emmanuel and Philip Hudson. This song is just a prime example of how we as a society think when we form our first impressions of someone. The clothes that we wear are a symbolic expression of who we are and what we stand for. No worries, I am not here to judge, but rather to inform you about some of the messages that we’re conveying to others through the colors that we wear and what we call fashion.
What Is Fashion?
Fashion can be seen as a state of mind. Fashion talks: It can be an understanding whisper, a high-energy scream or an all-knowing wink and a smile. Most of all, fashion is about being comfortable with yourself, translating self-esteem into a personal style.
Style is a representation of oneself, but it also creates stereotypes and even may create distance between groups of people. Clothes separate people into groups. Some examples of this are when we see people dress in all black and we refer to them as "gothic," or if someone has on a checkered shirt with the collars flipped up and big glasses, we may put them into the "preppy" group.
Where Do These Popular Fashion Trends Come From?
What many people do not know is that five or six months ahead of the season, the press attends fashion shows presenting designer collections; the media will then give editorial coverage to trends they think their readers will be interested in.
In addition, celebrities and other opinion leaders are usually the first to sport new looks, encouraging the buying public to accept emerging trends. Although celebrities and other socialites are the ones to start rocking the latest fashion, the ultimate decision on which fashion styles are in and which are so last season is up to us the customer.
Why Do We Dress Up?
There are several reasons why we dress up. One reason is to be prepared appropriately for the weather. We often look outside or check the weather on our smartphones just to make sure that the little summer dress and open-toed sandals that we want to wear to class will be perfect.
Another reason can be to improve physical attraction. It’s Friday night. You’ve just had a long week of classes, you just presented your informative speech in Professor Mason’s speech class and now you just want to have some fun and enjoy the town. You pick out that little black dress that you’ve been dying to wear and the perfect heels that you’ve wanted to wear with this dress. Of course when we dress up we look good for ourselves, but we also want to capture the attention of a new lover.
Emotions are another factor that can play heavily on what we wear. If we’re not feeling our best, it will show through our body language and our clothing. Instead of wearing heels, you may just throw on some sneakers and a hoodie.
Other reasons why people dress up are because of religious beliefs. For example, some Muslim women cover every part of their body except their eyes.
Are We Living Back In The '70s And '80s?
Many of us have heard the saying “History always repeats itself.” In the world of fashion the course of history repeating itself is very common, and styles that many people thought were left back in the '70s and '80s are now popping back up, with a more fashionable twist, in the 2000s.
In the '60s, one of the most popular subculture movement was the hippie movement. Women would wear hip-hugging bell-bottom jeans, tie-dye garments and a colorful headband. The men would wear a leather vest with their long hair and beards. Today we use those same headbands as a cute little accessory to match those hip-hugging tie-dye jeans, and the men still wear their hair long, either as dreads or long cornrows.
So the next time we find ourselves sitting around campus or hanging out with a group of friends and we observe someone that we feel has just made a fashion no-no, before we start singing the "Ratchet Girl" theme song, let's just remember the words of one of America’s most fashionable icons, Marilyn Monroe:
“Imperfection is beauty, madness is genius and it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring.”
